Truth be told
by Trinity-Neo1818
Summary: This story takes place in the time of 'Marron the teenage drama queen'. Bra is a nerdish 15 year old who is often picked on in school and relies on books for knowledge. Then she meets Uub who shows her a world she can hardly imagine....
1. Shopping

A/N: As most people wanted this story first, here it is. It is set in the same time as 'Marron the teenage drama queen' only this story is told from Bra's POV instead and is based around her relationship with Uub; with Goten and Marron as the minor couple. After this will be the Pan and Trunks story. Only, it is only fair that I warn you that the P/T story isn't a comedy at all. It has a sad side to it. This is a comedy though.  
  
I am having loads of fun writing these because of the different personalities of the girls in it. I have the spoilt, popular girl, the nerd and the tomboy. Anyway, enough of this, I'll start writing!  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Out of all the people in the world, my mother had to be the most irritating. Bulma loved to party, to dress up, to wear products tested on animals and to have a good time. I was the complete opposite.  
  
So when the time came to plan the birthday party of my brother, Trunks (who was a year older than I), Bulma went completely and utterly over the top. Of course, I had expected nothing less of a woman like my mother who spends every other day shut up in her lab with such an outgoing personality. But even so, she still managed to succeed in (as my other peers would put it) totally creeping me out.  
  
"We simply MUST have a BIG party, Trunks. And ALLL of your friends from school can come. And we can have a GIANT cake and lots of food and of course, MUSIC!"  
  
Bulma had a habit of speaking in capitols when she was overexcited. Which was pretty much all the time. It was Friday afternoon and Goten, Trunks' best friend, had just gone to take Marron to tutoring with his elder brother. It was common knowledge to everyone that Goten had the world's biggest crush on Marron while she was completely oblivious to the whole idea.  
  
I never really liked Marron. When I moved up a grade at the beginning of the year, she became the only female I knew in my form and therefore the only one other than my brother and his friends that I could associate with. She gives the meaning to the phrase 'Dumb Blonde' as she demonstrates failed attempts to notice Goten's obvious affection and places her attentions on my dimwit of an elder brother.  
  
"Mother, there is no need to go to all those lengths..." Trunks murmured embarrassedly and for a moment, I pitied him, remembering the times Bulma had tried to convince me to have a large party but gave up after a few years of repetitive failure. Then I simply reminded myself that deep down, Trunks wanted this party as much as she did.  
  
"Of COURSE we do, Trunks. You're my SON after all!" She exclaimed as she rushed around the room. "We have two weeks to prepare. Oh, we can go shopping and you have to pick presents and we MUST get decorations! Oh I simply can't WAIT!"  
  
Trunks smiled with both his lips and his frosty blue eyes as he brushed away a piece of his light lilac hair that had come too far forward into his face. He was wearing nothing but a tank top and jeans to show off his evenly tanned skin, flexed with large muscles. I frowned, trying to catch his eye but failed miserably.  
  
"You don't really need a big party for him, Mother." I argued. "Trunks may be popular but he is not some attention seeking, football playing underdeveloped teenage youth who needs a large party every time he ages a year."  
  
I enjoyed watching the stunned looks on others faces as they reran my sentences through their heads to try and understand my vast vocabulary even if it meant I was a disgusting boaster. I often like to count the milliseconds between the end of my sentence and the time it takes them to come up with a decent reply. Only, Bulma was used to this kind of behavior now and her vocabulary was just as impressive as my own so it didn't take her long to reply.  
  
"Trunks wants a party, Bra. Any normal kid would want a party." She stressed the word normal and cast a dark look in my direction. Trunks looked from our mother, to me and backed out of the room, sensing an argument was about to brake out. He had the right idea.  
  
"I am a perfectly sane, healthy and normal child, mother. Like you, I have obtained a vast knowledge of the world around me in an early stage of my life. Unlike you, I have put that knowledge to better use in studying, other than spending my time organizing pointless parties like this one."  
  
"That is it, young lady!" She replied bitterly. "You will go to your brother's birthday in two weeks time, you will help me to prepare for it and we will go shopping for supplies this weekend and we are going to have a lovely time!"  
  
I went shopping with her. But I didn't have a lovely time. I wore my favorite outfit, my oldest jeans and a very old brown T-shirt barring the words 'SOS- Save our solar system!' on the front. Bulma marched along ahead dressed in much more suitable clothes and carrying a handbag bursting with cash.  
  
"What shall we buy first, hmm?" She asked me over her shoulder. "I know! Let's get you a nice new outfit to wear! Something really pretty to bring out the colour in your eyes!"  
  
"Why can't I just wear what I have on now?" I asked her with raised eyebrows and a scowl, a slightly odd combination. Bulma turned to face me and looked me up and down with a look of distaste.  
  
"Because the clothes you have on aren't suitable. Don't worry, my darling daughter, just leave the outfit up to me."  
  
"So I'll just stand around and let you dress me like a doll?" I asked her bitterly. Bulma didn't reply as she had found a clothes shop she liked.  
  
"Oh, this is one of my favorites. Let's have a quick look, shall we?"  
  
It wasn't as if I had a choice. I groaned and followed her inside, grumbling to myself. When Bulma said 'Just a quick look' it usually meant we would stay until we had tried on every outfit in the entire store.  
  
"Oh, here's one you'll like!" Bulma cried triumphantly, producing an emerald green sequined top and a matching black leather mini skirt. "Now doesn't that outfit look nice?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah whatever. Just buy it." I grumbled, wanting to leave here now more than ever.  
  
"Oh no, Bra. You have to try it on."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because how will we know if it's your size or not?"  
  
"We can make a rough guess." I suggested hopefully. "Anyway, I thought we were buying party supplies, not clothes. And you know I utterly detest clothes that have been made by slave laborers."  
  
It was the truth. I didn't believe in slave labor and had taken sewing classes in order to make my own clothes to avoid buying clothes which all seemed to be made by slave labors anyway. Only, I discovered later that sewing wasn't exactly my area of great strength.  
  
"We should get you some nice new bras as well." Bulma said, entirely delighted as we made our way to a changing cubicle.  
  
Oh great, I could live up to my namesake. I snatched the clothes away from my mother and slammed the door of the cubicle shut with such force, the walls around me rattled threateningly. I ripped my own clothes over my head and stuffed myself into the outfit.  
  
I had to admit when I stared into my own reflection, I didn't look as bad as I would have thought. The top was pulled unusually tight against my body to show my figure better. Bulma had given me the size smaller so my belly button showed a little. The skirt, also a size too small, sat on my hips and didn't reach as far down as I would have liked. But like Bulma had said it would, the colours made my misty green eyes appear larger and brighter than usual. My teal green hair, which sat tidily at chest level, was glossier and softer than it had appeared before.  
  
"Bra, can I come in and look?" Bulma asked from outside the door.  
  
"If you want to be incredibly horrified than you may." I yelled in reply, not removing my eyes from the reflection in the mirror.  
  
Bulma burst through the door and gasped, turning me around to face her and inspecting me with a glint of pride glowing in her eyes. The same glint of pride she showed whenever I received top marks in a test.  
  
"Oh Bra, my darling!" She cooed, pulling me into a slightly uncomfortable hug. "You look so grown up!"  
  
"Yeah, thanks Mum." I said dully, pushing her away from me. "Ok then, let's get it and get out of here."  
  
"We have to buy you some shoes as well, and a little handbag to match. And we simply must get you hair done...." Bulma mumbled to herself, her mind drifting elsewhere.  
  
"Alright, we will. But first, can you do one thing for me?"  
  
"Yes dear?" She answered sweetly.  
  
"GET OUT!" I bellowed and Bulma jumped backwards in shock, allowing me to shut the door and change back into my regular, fifteen year old self.  
  
We walked back through the rest of the shops, buying matching black high heels that I would most likely take off after the first five minutes, a black handbag I would never use anyway and a whole bag of makeup I completely refused to wear. Bulma also booked me in for a hairdresser appointment on Saturday afternoon, just before the party. I mental picture of myself dressed up like an eighteen year old, standing with a group of blondes and trying to get the attention of some older guy flashed into my mind and I shuddered at the thought.  
  
"You'll be the most beautiful girl there." Bulma stated admirably. "The one all the boys will want to dance with."  
  
"I strongly doubt that." I muttered. "And you seem to have forgotten the whole point of this shopping trip. We didn't buy a present for Trunks OR arrange any party decorations at all!"  
  
"Oh they'll be time for that later." Bulma replied airily. "What do you think he would want? Music? Computer games? Sport things?"  
  
I shrugged. "I don't think he'd care if he got cow dung, Mum. The only thing Trunks cares about on his birthday is having a party."  
  
"You're right, Bra. We should put our effort into his party and give him something simple for a present. Maybe some money he can spend on something he wants. What do you think?"  
  
"I think it's time to go home." I replied, unable to stand waiting around the shops any longer. I grabbed my mother by the wrist and marched her to the car park.  
  
"Oh you're no fun." Bulma said jokingly.  
  
"I know." I replied dismissively and pulled her to the car. 


	2. School Life

A/N: Sorry those who read 'Marron the teenage drama queen' but from Bra's POV, Marron isn't a nice person. So she may seem a little bitchy in this story.  
  
When I first arrived at Orange Star High, back when I was in year seven, it went off to a good start. I was smart, pretty and rich, three qualities that also came with popularity, although I was never really popular amongst guys. In fact, most of them HATED me.  
  
Even if there were some girls who thought I was a miserable show-off and pretty much all the guys considered me a know-it-all, it didn't really bother me because a majority of the girls wanted me as their best friend. And what really made settling into high school easy was having my elder brother, his form's most popular person, in the grade above.  
  
But when I finished year eight, everything changed. My teachers were highly impressed with my perfect 100% grades in every subject as well as my perfect attendance record and the amount of extra activities I had taken on which had continued over the past two years. So my teachers held a meeting with Bulma (Of course Vegeta wouldn't go) to discus my schooling and it was decided I should move up a grade.  
  
All my friends were highly impressed. While they would be going into grade nine next year, I was started grade ten. At first, I was excited at meeting new people and learning new things but then I discovered that being smart, no matter how pretty, rich or popular you were in a lower year, did not count to your social status. In general, I was now the dork of my grade despite my brother's impressive reputation.  
  
So now school isn't my favorite thing in the world, as it used to be. But even so I am still the top of my grade, despite the fact I was a year younger than the average class age. So when I trudged along to school a the day after Bulma's shopping trip, the usual feeling of complete and utter depression fell into my stomach.  
  
When I entered the classroom, I could hear people talking in loud voices about dates and dancing and scowled, realizing what had just happened. Trunks had announced his upcoming party to everyone in our class. Most likely by lunch, the whole school would know.  
  
"Hey Bra!" Goten cried, waving frantically from across the room. I waved in reply and dropped into the seat at a table behind him and Marron, Trunks sitting at the table next to us with Josh. Because I had no other friends in this large, party going, hyperactive teenage group, I clung to my brother however sad that may sound.  
  
As our teacher entered the room, my eyes fell on Marron who was nattering away to Goten. Her brilliant green eyes were focused on Trunks who was hurriedly copying notes, hardly noticing her watching him. Goten seemed to take an interest in where her eyes went though and you could almost feel his heart leap out of his stomach when she tossed her lavish blonde hair and winked in his direction, hoping to catch Trunks' eye.  
  
The odd thing about this form was that certain private matters like peoples relationships were common knowledge. If I had a boyfriend (Something which would NEVER happen mind you) I would rather keep it a secret than have everyone know. What's the sense in that? But anyway, it is 'common school knowledge' that Goten has feelings for Marron, but she has a crush on Trunks, my brother. Kind of a nice circle happening between the children of three families of close friends, wouldn't you agree?  
  
At lunchtime, I followed Trunks into the cafeteria as usual and sat at his table as I always did. Marron strode towards us, giving a demonstration of a model on a catwalk and approached Trunks with the widest smile a human being could possibly make.  
  
"Hey Trunks, mind if I sit here?" She dimpled. By dimpled, I mean that her smile was so large, the dimples in her cheeks reminded me of slightly deformed wrinkles.  
  
"Yeah, whatever." Trunks said carelessly and turned back to her to face someone else. I gave him a wide smile of appreciation.  
  
Marron sat beside him and daintily chewed her lunch while the other girls watched eagerly. I let out an exasperated sigh which took all of Marron's strength to ignore. My smile broadened; I had an advantage. Marron wouldn't say anything if she was trying to convince Trunks to date her at this party.  
  
It wasn't as if Marron was the main problem. The main problem was Eliza. Marron was, shall we say, the side dish. Eliza was watching me with those dull brown eyes of hers, her rather squished up face filled with utter loathing and hatred. I smiled a falsely charming smile, only deepening her scowl.  
  
"So Trunks, most guys are taking their girlfriends to your party...." Marron trailed away, her eyes on the back of his lavender head.  
  
"Yeah. I guess they would." Trunks said carelessly. "Sorry to sound rude Marron, but I'm kind of in the middle of a conversation."  
  
Marron didn't reply, but slowly rose to her feet and moved across the table to sit with Eliza, who was still watching me with hatred.  
  
Eliza had hated me since we started high school. It was the beginning of the year and grades seven and eight combined together to perform in a school drama production of a classic tale called 'The Wizard of Oz'. Both Eliza and I auditioned for the part of Dorothy and, as always, I came out on top. Eliza ended up being the wicked witch of the East, which meant she had no lines and her only part in the play was sticking her overgrown feat out from underneath a cardboard house.  
  
She has hated me ever since. Only from what I gather, she doesn't seem to want everyone to know it. If she did, she wouldn't have to wait until after school for us to engage in, shall we say, or usual afternoon sports.  
  
"You're being unusually quiet, Bra." Trunks whispered into my ear, trying his best to ignore the giggling blondes watching him from afar. "Something wrong?" I suddenly broke out of my dreamy state and put of such a large smile, it practically sickened me. I shrugged my shoulders as if to say I had no idea what was wrong with me and shoveled a mouthful of the strange green substance we had been served for lunch into my mouth and chewed merrily, despite the oncoming taste of rotten lime.  
  
Not entirely convinced, Trunks turned his back on me and talked to Goten instead. As soon as his head was turned, I spat out my food and made my way to the library. The only place in the school where I could have some peace and tranquility.  
  
I hadn't noticed Marron leave the table but she was now sitting in the corner of the library alone, staring absent mindedly into space. There were several reasons why I had to be nice to Marron. First and foremost, she is my only chance for popularity in grade ten. Secondly, our families are close friends, and if we were mean to each other, they would know about it. And finally, Marron isn't THAT bad. In fact, compared to Eliza, she was as sweet as anything.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Marron asked, breaking out of her dissolution.  
  
"Well, most of my high school years have revolved around this area of our school in some way." I said with a shrug, flopping down beside her and enjoyed watching the puzzled expression on her face while she tried to work out what I had just said.  
  
"Oh. That makes sense." She said after a while, then added quickly. "I'm not doing anything."  
  
"You have no idea how suspicious that sounds, Marron. It is pretty obvious that you are planning some sort of scheme. Something to do with my brother and his party, perhaps?"  
  
Marron narrowed her eyes in an all too familiar way. "Of course not! Like I said, I'm not doing anything."  
  
"That's what worries me." I said with a laugh, just as the bell rang. Marron leapt to her feet and stalked past me. I followed her, still laughing psychotically.  
  
When school ended, and the entire class rang with sighs of relief, I groaned almost painfully and for good reason too! We had only just begun to start a new science topic. While others hurried out of the room, I stayed behind and copied down a few more notes before our science teacher had to literally drag me from the room.  
  
I was the last one in the locker room when I arrived. That was, accept for Eliza, a single giggling blonde named Anna and a tall, ethnic and heavily muscled girl with dreadlocks known as Mez. No one knew her real name.  
  
"Well look who finally decided to show up." Eliza said with a grin that made her resemble a large, warty toad. "We thought you wouldn't be coming, Bra."  
  
Anna spluttered with false laughter when Eliza put full emphasis on her name. Mez was coming closer to me and I pretended to be intimidated as I always did. You would think that after all these years, she would have grown wise to the fact that alien life forms are actually stronger than the common human being. Most times, I would have taken sheer delight in breaking my mother's rule in letting them know the secret of my father's origin. Of course, then they would know I was COMPLETELY insane.  
  
"So, what Bra do you have on today?" Eliza asked, shoving her ugly pug face right up into mine so our eyes met. I noticed her's glowing fiercely, is if they were on fire. "Oh yeah. Little girly-girls who are only fifteen don't need to wear bras, do they?"  
  
"I'm only a year younger than you, Eliza." I said evilly, but still smiling. "And I believe that Anna's crush is only fifteen as well."  
  
Anna's usually perfect slender face turned a strange shade of red. Images of a large turnip flashed into my mind. I was unsure if she was red with embarrassment or rage, but the next sentence cleared all my queries up.  
  
"YOU LEAVE GOTEN OUT OF THIS!!" She bellowed. Mez put a hand to her rosy pink lips to silence her.  
  
"Shut up you idiot! Don't want some teacher coming in here, do you?" Eliza warned. Mez removed her oversized, tattooed hand and Anna nodded apologetically.  
  
"Right." Eliza began again, facing me once more and rolling up her sleeves. "You're meant to be real pally with Goten Son, right? So the girls and I want you to hook Anna up with Goten and my good friend Marron up with Trunks. You got that?"  
  
"No, actually." I said, turning my back on them to face my locker. "Your primitive vocabulary is far too difficult to understand. However, if you loose some of the slang and that awful false American accent, I may be able to decode the general point of this conversation. With the help of several hand gestures, as well."  
  
I may not be excellent at martial arts, but I knew enough basics to know how to sense ki. So I was able to feel Mez's ki rise immensely and ducked just as her fist shot over my head and collided with the steel wall at the back of my locker. Mez ripped her hand out, which was throbbing painfully, and stroked it like a kitten. Her angry eyes never left me.  
  
"Right you." She breathed deeply. "Never insult Eliza like that, you hear me? You little nerd, do what we say!"  
  
"Make me." I said airily turning back to my locker and trying to hide my pleasure in tormenting them so much.  
  
"Gladly." Mez said as she grabbed the back of my shirt. I sighed loudly as she attempted to strangle me. When Eliza and Anna saw her struggling, they leapt onto my back as well.  
  
I had to admit that now I was struggling a little to stand up. But I managed to hold up long enough to swing them off my back, grab my things and slam my locker shut. Then I watched them scramble to my feet with amusement.  
  
"Till next time, then?" I said in a false, sweet voice as if we were choosing the next time to meet for a golf club.  
  
"Just wait, Bra Briefs!" Eliza shrieked, forgetting to lower her voice. "I am SO going to kill you!"  
  
I backed out of the room and ran to the bus stop where Marron, Goten and Trunks were waiting impatiently.  
  
"Bra, you can't always be this late if you want to come home with us!" Trunks shouted when he saw me approaching. "Where were you, anyway."  
  
"Oh no where." I said hurriedly as the bus rolled around the corner. "Hey, bus is here."  
  
I knew exactly how my family would react if I told them about what went on between Eliza and I every afternoon. Vegeta would insist I pulverize her, Bulma will burst into a fit of hysterics and Trunks would storm up to the school and take the advice our dear father had intended me to use. Which wouldn't be too good for him if he wanted to get into a good university.  
  
So I sat on the bus next to Trunks and talked to him cheerfully, while he was completely unaware that Eliza, Anna and Mez were making up new plans to 'kill me' as we spoke. 


	3. Trunks' Party

A/N: I know I haven't introduced Uub yet, but I needed to show you what Bra's life at home and school was like first so you can get a better introduction into her personality. But anyway, this is Trunks' birthday party which means it's the day Uub and Bra meet. Enjoy!

.:.  
  
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" I shrieked and dashed away from my mother as fast as I could. Bulma chased me, waving my new outfit in one hand and a bottle of perfume in the other hand.  
  
"Bra! Stand still for at least one darn second so I can make you look half decent for your brother's party!"  
  
"NEVER!" I bellowed, darting around the kitchen table and ramming a chair in Bulma's general direction. It made a direct hit and I took my chance to run for the door.  
  
It was Saturday, the day of Trunks' birthday party. Bulma had already dragged me to the beauty parlor for two whole painstaking hours and the last thing I needed was to be dressed in clothes made by some poor Asian orphan and covered in a product a pig had worn.  
  
"Bra, please! Why don't we discus this like sensible adults!" Bulma pleaded as I bolted for the door. I skidded to a halt and faced her menacingly.  
  
"It is against all my morals to wear products tested on animals and clothes made by slave laborers." I said, trying to keep my voice even and calm but failing miserably.  
  
"Well, you'll just have to ignore those morals for tonight! Come on, Bra! It's your big brother's birthday! Do you really want to go around looking like something the cat dragged in?"  
  
"YES!!" I screamed and broke into a run. I had reached the front door and freedom when it suddenly sprung open and I fell backwards in shock.  
  
I groaned, rubbing my backside and stared up into Vegeta's angry eyes. He was watching me with a strange mixture of feelings; appearing angered, appalled, perplexed, interested and vaguely amused. His jet black hair blew softly in the outdoor breeze and his coal black eyes swiveled to me, still sitting on the floor and looking dazed, to my mother who was holding clothes and cosmetics like a weapon.  
  
"What the hell is going on here!?" He finally exploded, continuously glancing from me to my mother.  
  
"I was TRYING to make Bra look half decent for Trunks' party tonight but she simply refused to let me. Wouldn't you agree that these clothes would make her look stunning? And the perfume and makeup would really bring out her eyes? I mean, she already has her hair done. Don't you think it looks lovely, Vegeta?"  
  
Vegeta merely grunted in reply and stepped over me casually, making his way back into the kitchen and acting as though this was an everyday event. Bulma groaned in frustration and marched into the kitchen after him. Overjoyed that my father had saved me from certain doom, I skipped happily after them.  
  
"What am I supposed to do if this house is filled with delinquent teenagers all night. As if this place isn't a nut house already." Vegeta complained, leaning against the counter. "Woman, fetch me something to eat."  
  
"Of course, your highness." Bulma said sarcastically and rummaged through the cupboards to fulfill her husband's request.  
  
"I don't see why Trunks has to have a....what did you call it? Party, at all! Those lunatic friends of his will just have to find some other place to get drunk on a Saturday night."  
  
My point exactly. It amazed me how much Vegeta and I had in common when he had been a ruthless, environment killing, alien destroyer in his prime. I grinned from across the room to show my consent and he replied with a smirk.  
  
"Oh please!" Bulma sighed as she shoved some meat like substance under Vegeta's nose. "I have enough to worry about without the two of you complaining all the time! How do you expect me to prepare this party AND cater for two Sayians all on my own."  
  
"Correction, mother. One Sayian and one HALF Sayian. There is a difference you know." I said slyly. Bulma screamed in pure agony, marched across the room and forced me into a chair.  
  
"Right, you. We're going to make you look NICE for once, do you understand?" She opened her makeup kit and set to work.  
  
Vegeta grunted and left the room, still eating. Obviously cosmetics weren't his forte. After he had left, Trunks replaced him and watched us silently with perplexed interest for some time.  
  
"What's your problem?" I managed to say now that Bulma was done with my lips.  
  
"Nothing. Wow Bra, you look fantastic!"  
  
Bulma put the lipstick down and turned my chair around so I could face him. She beamed proudly, modeling me like a piece of artwork.  
  
"I suppose that is a compliment?" I scowled. "Because I don't deserve praise for wearing products tested on animals."  
  
"Alright, miss legal rights, upstairs and into your slave labor outfit. Make sure you're ready by seven. Party starts at eight."  
  
I didn't reply but stalked upstairs to my room, sat on my bed and moped. After about five minutes, I saw how pointless this was and read from my favorite encyclopedia instead. Then at seven, I pulled on the black leather mini skirt and emerald green sequined top that I hated so much already. By the time I was ready, people were starting to arrive.  
  
"There you are, Bra." Bulma said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Isn't this great? The DJ has started setting up and people are already arriving. They're all in the sunroom now! And look, more people! I'll talk to you later, dear!"  
  
She pushed me away and I watched her with surprise. She didn't even compliment on my outfit, not that I was complaining. It just seemed weird that she would overlook such an important detail to her.  
  
Bulma was right, the room was full already. Some people were getting ready to swim and others were eating from the food table, waiting for the DJ to finish setting up. I scanned the room and found Goten and Trunks talking to a large group of surrounding teenagers. Not wanting to intrude, stood nearby and hoped to catch their attention.  
  
Some of my old friends who were in grade nine had been invited. Heck, pretty much the whole school had turned up. But I didn't expect any of my old friends to say hello. They had been giving me the silent treatment ever since I started being unpopular with older kids.  
  
"Hey Bra!" Goten called, waving from the table. He and Trunks pushed past the crowd and stood beside me cheerily.  
  
"Hey guys. Anyone seen Marron?"  
  
"Not here yet." Goten shrugged. "You look really nice, Bra."  
  
"Oh. Thanks." I said gratefully. You couldn't really expect a more interesting comment from Goten.  
  
"Aren't you having a party later with just family and close friends?" Goten asked.  
  
"Yeah. That's next weekend." Trunks said. "Hey don't tell Marron, she isn't invited."  
  
"Oh." Goten said, disappointed. "Why not?"  
  
"She's beginning to bug me. You know, flirting and stuff." He said carefully, watching Goten. "Of course, I'm not interested. That's why she's not coming next weekend. Sorry Goten!"  
  
"Maybe you should dance with her." I said thoughtfully. "Use reverse physiology and pretend you like her and want to dance with her. When she sees you like her too, she'll lose interest. The thrill of trying to have your attention is probably the only reason she likes you, Trunks."  
  
There was a stunned silence between the two boys and they glanced at each other, their eyebrows raised. Then they turned back to me.  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Goten said cluelessly and we all burst out laughing.  
  
At that moment, Marron strode gracefully into the room. She was wearing a disgustingly short red dress with tiny shoulder straps and straps going all down the bare back. She was taller, the result of black high heels and she swung a matching handbag. I could see the line of her bikini strap underneath her dress as she pushed back her blonde hair and joined into Eliza, Anna and Mez's conversation.  
  
Goten and Trunks were still laughing and I knew that it would all stop if they knew Marron was here. Goten was obsessed with trying to impress her, even though he often failed miserably. And with the way Trunks was feeling about her, he probably wouldn't want to stay long if Marron was around. I decided to ignore her.  
  
Eventually she found us and as I predicted, the laughing stopped. Trunks and Goten were stony faced, giving the impression that it was time for a more serious conversation.  
  
"Hey everyone, pass the food." Marron said and pushed through us to grab a piece of cake.  
  
"You look nice, Marron." I complemented, in an attempt to make pleasant conversation.  
  
"You look nice too, Bra. You should wear more makeup." She replied carelessly, as if giving me a compliment in reply had been an afterthought.  
  
"It was my mum's idea." I scowled. "Even though she knows perfectly well that I detest products that are tested on animals."  
  
"Even so, I think she looks great." Trunks beamed and giving me and embarrassing hug. "And you look fantastic, Marron."  
  
Then Marron did something terribly revolting, she blushed so red I could have fried an egg on her oversized blonde head. She tried to hide it by stuffing her mouth full of cake and then muttered what would have been 'thank you' if her mouth wasn't loaded with icing.  
  
I was amusing myself quite easily by watching this repulsive display of what seemed to be affection when I noticed my mother sneak up behind us and tap Marron on the shoulder.

And that was when I saw Uub for the very first time. 


	4. Uub

.:.  
  
My first impression of Uub, when I noticed his black Mohawk and dark skin, was of Mr T. But then I realized how lanky and meek he appeared compared to Trunks and Goten; and just about every other male I had come in contact with before. His deep brown eyes seemed to stand out, even more than the red jacket he wore that was almost two sizes too big for him, as was his really baggy black pants.  
  
"Guys, this is Uub." Bulma introduced in the type of sugary voice that completely sickened me. "Uub, this is my son, Trunks, my daughter Bra and Goten and Marron who's families are close friends of ours."  
  
"Hey," Trunks and Marron said simultaneously, showing as much interest as they would have shown in a brick wall.  
  
"Hi ya!" Goten exclaimed with the usual jolt of enthusiasm that only he and his father seemed to possess.  
  
Uub was silent, his cheeks blushing red that made him look ridiculous. I had to contain myself from laughing and took to giving what I hoped was what would pass for a friendly stare.  
  
"Uub is the little boy training with Goku to become a martial arts master. Goku has told him all about you guys and his parents want him to study at Orange Star High. So he is going to go to school with you guys! Isn't that exciting?" Bulma said, still upholding the voice that was continuing to embarrass me.  
  
"Um...yeah. Whatever." Trunks mumbled, displaying a level of emotions equivalent to a dung beetle.  
  
"Well, I'll leave you to get acquainted. Trunks, I'm counting on you to make Uub feel included. See you later kids!" Bulma exclaimed and strode away from us, thankfully leaving me alone.  
  
There was an odd silence between the five of us, each unsure of what to say. Trunks was staring into space, obviously wishing to be somewhere else. I decided to take it upon myself to make what I hoped would be decent conversation.  
  
"So how old are you?"  
  
"Fifteen." He replied shyly. He was constantly starring at his shoes.  
  
"Hey same! Did you skip a grade?"  
  
"No. I just started at a younger age."  
  
"Like Goten!"  
  
"Err....yeah."  
  
"So you live really far away, don't you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How are you going to get to school?"  
  
"Fly."  
  
"Oh. Ok."  
  
That was as far as the conversation was going to go. So far, I hadn't succeeded in getting a full sentence out of him. How did my mother expect us to be friendly with this guy if he wouldn't even speak to us properly?  
  
Marron, obviously more bored than anyone else, grabbed Goten's hands and yanked him onto the dance floor. Trunks and I exchanged raised eyebrows while Goten's face remained filled with sheer joy. I beamed; Marron had already made his night.  
  
"Remember what I said about reverse phycology, Trunks." I whispered in my brother's ear, reluctant to destroy the best moment in Goten's teenage life. "Then she might stop chasing after you."  
  
"Let him have one dance, Bra." Trunks whispered back. "Then I'll cut in."  
  
"So..." I said, turning back to Uub who was standing a fair bit away and watching us forlornly. "Are you much of a dancer?"  
  
"I've never danced before." Uub mumbled. I couldn't imagine there was someone who went redder when they blushed. "This is my first party."  
  
Well, at least it was a proper sentence this time. "Lucky. Don't you hate it?"  
  
"Kind of." He replied. He was shifting uncomfortably, shuffling his feet and I noticed that the poor guy didn't really like the noise much. I didn't blame him. It was awful!  
  
Suddenly the music changed and Trunks leapt at the chance to leave us. Now that no one was keeping an eye out for me, and I had at least made an appearance, I seriously thought about running upstairs to my room. But then I remembered Uub was standing beside me. He was so quiet that it was easy to forget he was standing there. It would be rude to leave him standing there, friendless and alone considering this was his first teenage party. But I couldn't stand the music much longer.  
  
"Don't you hate the music!?" I shouted over the sudden blast of the repetitive trash our generation consider structural noise. He said something softly and I shouted. "WHAT!?" At the top of my voice.  
  
"KIND OF!" He replied just as loudly.  
  
"WANT TO GO UPSTAIRS!?" I screamed as loud as I could.  
  
"IF YOU WANT TO!" He screamed even louder than I could. Before I knew it, this had become a sort of war to see who had the loudest voice.  
  
"FINE THEN!!" I bellowed even louder still. It surprised me that I could make such a loud noise. Others nearby turned to stare, actually able to hear me over the music!  
  
"OKAY!"  
  
"LET'S GO THEN!"  
  
"IF YOU WANT TO!"  
  
I snatched his hand and marched out of the room. Uub's hand was dripping with sweat and I now noticed that his face was in the same condition. I understood completely. Teenage parties and social events were incredibly stressful.  
  
"You want some water?" I asked once we were out of the sound range and the obnoxious music was now no more than a consistent pounding on the floor.  
  
"If I am allowed to." He mumbled, his throat hoarse. I led him into a kitchen and pored him a large glass, filled with ice and a second one for myself.  
  
We stood in silence, and I sipped my water politely while Uub drained his glass in a matter of seconds. I was pretty impressed that someone could drink that much. The poor guy must have really needed that drink.  
  
"Were you named after the periodic table of the elements?" I asked casually, taking his empty cup and rinsing it in the sink.  
  
"Excuse me?" Uub replied, his eyes filled with confusion.  
  
"You're name is on the periodic table of the elements. I figured that your parents must be into science."  
  
"No, not really. You see, I am the first person in my village to go to school." Uub said with a very faint smile. I took that as a sign to mean he was beginning to relax around me a little more.  
  
"So, you live in a third world country." I concluded. It was the only logical explanation.  
  
"Sorry, I don't understand."  
  
I raised my eyebrows, unable to believe someone could be this thick headed. "A third world country is a poorer country who doesn't have the money to further it's technology to keep up with the rest of us."  
  
Uub said nothing, his deep brown eyes overloaded with confusion. I watched him in awe. How could someone be this stupid? Sure, he had no education, but at least he should no the current status of his own country! Either he was pretending to be an idiot as a valent attempt to impress me, or his brain cells had been replaced with mothballs.  
  
"Ok, put it this way. Do you get water out of a well, live in a hovel and often go to bed hungry?"  
  
"Yes." He replied. "But what has that got to do with anything?"  
  
Ok, it was official. His brain was filled with mothballs. I expected someone with such a large head to have a better intellectual capacity. Obviously, I was wrong.  
  
"Maybe we should talk about something else. How are you able to go to school? I can tell that you can't afford it and...I don't think you got in on a scholarship."  
  
"I won some money at a tournament." Uub said simply. Ah, I understood now! Must have been one kick to the head too many.  
  
"I see. Have you ever considered getting a tutor? It's really been helping Marron." I suggested. This guy was going to die come Monday.  
  
"Why would a need a tutor? I'm going to school to learn."  
  
I supposed I should be impressed me knew what a tutor was. Uub came from a third world country, with no previous education and probably has suffered some mental disease through his fighting. This was why I only knew basic martial arts. I wasn't going to throw away MY intellectual capacity so easily.  
  
"Trust me Uub, it will help. But since you don't agree with me, remember if you do ever need any help at school with homework and stuff, don't hesitate to ask me."  
  
"Thanks, but I should be fine."  
  
In my opinion, it was time to change the subject. "So, what do you do for fun?"  
  
"Fun? There's never anytime for fun. I have to train to fight, and work for my family. Now that my father is gone..."  
  
I felt my heart sink into the pit of my stomach. Even if things like losing a father as a child happened to every four in six children, and that I should be used to suffering and depression with the amount of reading I do on it, I still have trouble listening to others talk about things like this.  
  
"Well, I read a lot. I like reading, it gives you a chance to escape this world and enter the life of another person." Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. "You do know how to read, don't you?"  
  
"Yes, I can read." Uub stated proudly. "Only three people in our village can read. I am trying to teach my brothers and sisters, but I'm not an excellent teacher."  
  
I could imagine. "Oh, you have brothers and sisters? Aren't they a pain?"  
  
"Kind of." I was getting the impression that Uub found it hard to make his mind up about anything. "I'm the oldest."  
  
"Lucky. Being the youngest really blows. Trunks gets whatever he wants." I scowled.  
  
"It's not that great. It's up to me to look after the others and be the father figure now. It isn't that easy, especially since I am the oldest of six."  
  
The oldest of six! I could hardly imagine it! "Wow!" Was all I could say.  
  
Uub shrugged. "It can be hard, and I would rather be the youngest at times with someone to be brave and look after me so I could break down and cry if I want to. But...well...you get used to it."  
  
"There you are!" Bulma burst into the kitchen, interrupting the conversation. "Uub, didn't your mother say you have to be home by eleven?"  
  
"Oh yeah, right." Uub faced me and gave me his faint smile. I could now understand why he wasn't such a great smiler. Not only was he shy, but he didn't have much to smile about. He didn't get much practice. Maybe he could have evil smirking lessons with Vegeta. An evil smirk would make him look...  
  
Yuk! I was thinking like Marron! Gross! I pushed all thoughts of an evil- smirking Uub out of my head. "Nice meeting you Uub." I said, shaking his sweaty hand.  
  
"You too, Bra. I'll see you at school on Monday, then." He thanked Bulma, waved goodbye and left the kitchen. As soon as he was gone, Bulma burst out laughing.  
  
"There's definitely chemistry between the two of you, isn't there?" She shrieked with laughter. "I never thought I would see the day my Bra has a boyfriend."  
  
"First of all mother, I only met Uub four hours ago. Second, it's pretty obvious that I am not the boy-loving type. And finally, I DON'T LIKE HIM ANYWAY!"  
  
"You don't?"  
  
"Kind of." I mumbled, just like Uub would have. I didn't mean to say that. He was alright, I suppose. And how could I blame him from having a brain full of fluff with a background like his?  
  
"Well, be nice, ok? Uub is going to have a hard time fitting in at school and I need you to help him. Make sure you include him at school and introduce him to your friends."  
  
What friends? I asked myself mentally, but said. "Of course, Mum." Instead before I stooped into my room and settled down into a very restless sleep. 


	5. New day

"Just wait till I get my license." Trunks mumbled as he, Goten and I made our way to the bus stop that morning. "I can't wait till I can drive. No more bus."  
  
"The bus isn't THAT bad, Trunks. Come on!" Goten replied, pulling his jacket around him more tightly to fight back the autumn breeze.  
  
"Yeah? Well you only say that so you can catch the bus with Marron." Trunks answered slyly. Goten blushed a light pink and suddenly became very interested in his shoes.  
  
"So, I guess we'll see Uub at school?" I asked, trying to make conversation.  
  
"Who? Oh yeah, that guy. I suppose...why do you care?" Trunks smirked very much like our father.  
  
"No reason." I shrugged. I had a hunch as to where this was going.  
  
"Don't give me that crap, Bra. It's obvious you like him!" Trunks sniggered and Goten burst out laughing before adding. "I never thought I'd see the day Bra had a crush!"  
  
"Oh shut up!" I cursed. Really, boys! Just because I asked them a simple and meaningless question, they decide I, Bra Bulma Briefs, have a crush on someone! That's the problem with our generation; we are not open minded enough to see that because someone is simply curious about something in the day-to-day life of someone of the opposite sex, means we have to like them physically!  
  
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when we arrived at the bus stop and Trunks was bombarded with hyperactive teenage girls praising him for a 'totally cool party' and wishing him happy birthday yet again, even if his birthday had already been and gone. I slipped away and found a place to sit and do some extra reading.  
  
.:.  
  
I didn't see or hear of Uub until our first class, math. I was one of the first into the classroom and took my favorite seat near my brother. I watched gloomily as the classroom slowly filled up until there was only a couple of seats left. I noticed that neither Uub or Marron was present in the classroom. That was odd seeing as I had seen Marron on the bus this morning so I knew she was at school. It wasn't like her to be late for class.  
  
I tapped Goten on the shoulder and he turned around to face me. He had saved a seat beside him for Marron especially, turning everyone else away. Mrs Morgan was entering the classroom so I mouthed 'Where's Marron?' and Goten only shrugged and turned around in his seat.  
  
About halfway through the lesson, the door suddenly swung open and the school secretary pushed a very pale faced Marron and a terrified looking Uub into the classroom.  
  
"This must be Uub, the new student in our school." Mrs Morgan said as she stood to shake the miserable looking boy's hand. "Everyone, give Uub a nice warm welcome."  
  
The class was mostly silent except for a few people who at least managed to mumble 'Hello'. Except Goten, of course, who's greeting upheld it's usual enthusiastic jolt. But I had a feeling his greeting was more for Marron then Uub, who stood beside him, completely unnoticed.  
  
"Take a seat Uub and we'll get you started on some work." Mrs Morgan instructed with a sickening smile, her large red lips shining with lipstick.  
  
I wanted to get Uub's attention. If we sat together, it would mean two less people who were forced into sitting alone. But Marron grabbed Uub's sleeve roughly and the poor guy nearly toppled over, letting out a small squeak of fright.  
  
"I know Uub from out of school. He can sit with me." Marron said firmly. What!? Marron was being nice to someone? HIGHLY UNLIKELY! And I noticed she didn't seem to be feeling well by the lack of colour in her cheeks. I was confused; what was going on?  
  
Mrs Morgan noticed Marron's presence for the first time that morning and scowled so the wrinkles in her cheeks sagged with her baggy skin even more than usual. "And where have you been, Marron? It's not like you to be late to school."  
  
"I overslept. I'm sorry." Yeah right! How could that be true considering she caught the bus with us! My hypothesis was that she had been purposely stalling to get away from something. But what?  
  
Marron grabbed Uub by his sleeve and led him to the table at the back behind Eliza and the Chief Leader of the 'Goten Fan Club' (or better known as Jane). Eliza turned around in her seat and whispered something, while I secretly praised myself for bothering to learn how to lip read back when I was seven and thought spying on my parents was the most important thing in the world.  
  
"Don't worry. It's for the best, Marron."  
  
"I feel so rotten."  
  
"It couldn't be helped. You can still be friends. Just don't sit next to him all the time and stop flirting."  
  
"I know."  
  
Ah hah! I understood now! Ever since Marron started spending more time with Goten, a rumor had spread that she was two-timing with Goten and Trunks. Of course, this was preposterous and they should have noticed by now that Trunks simply wasn't interested. But still, it meant Marron's 'popularity' was at stake and therefore she was prepared to suddenly stop sitting with the person she had been sitting with for the past month and a half of school and for the sake a total stranger! Now what? Were they going to start thinking she was seeing three boys at once simply because she decided to sit with Uub?  
  
I looked at Goten forlornly. If I could, I would have sat with him, but the lesson was half over and Mrs Morgan wasn't one to let you move for no reason. Instead, I busied myself with what was left of the period working on my math and sneaking glances at Uub, who, judging from the look of him, was more terrified than anything else I had ever seen.  
  
After class I pushed past everyone else and met him at his desk. "Hey Uub, how was class?"  
  
"Ok...kind of." He mumbled as he gathered his things. I noticed for the first time that he was wearing the same red jacket and black pants he wore on Saturday. Didn't he ever change clothes!?  
  
I opened my mouth to say something when I felt a hand on my shoulder and I was suddenly pushed into a nearby desk. I scrambled to my feet, wondering what my father would say if he knew that a mere human had managed to knock me over and met eyes with Mez.  
  
_A very powerful human_, I argued inside my head, _who caught you off guard_.  
  
"Uub!" Eliza shrieked and burst into hysterical laughter. "What sort of a name is that?"  
  
"Hasn't it got something to do with science?" Uub asked, oblivious to the fact that Eliza was laughing at him. I had to admit, I was impressed. His memory capacity far exceeded his knowledge.  
  
"Oh, he's a smart one, isn't he?" Eliza sniggered to Anna. "You can join the nerd club with Bra! Here that, Bra? Now there's two members!"  
  
"Yeah well it's better than being in the bitch-with-no-life-outside-her-own- selfish-greed club!" I retorted from behind Mez, who was keeping me in the corner.  
  
"In fact," Eliza continued, ignoring the last comment. "you might make a nice couple. Think about it, both little smart-ass's, both with stupid names, it all fits!"  
  
"Aw, the perfect nerd couple!" Anna said sarcastically so all three of them laughed.  
  
"Now, Bra, remember our little proposition from last week?" Eliza asked, moving on me instead of Uub.  
  
"Yes. And again I must say no considering neither Anna or Marron fit the correct physical and mental image desired by Goten and Trunks."  
  
"Can the smart talk and say it in English." Mez threatened.  
  
"I did. Or are you too thick to understand your own native language?"  
  
"Come on, girls." Eliza said sullenly. "We'll get the nerd couple after school."  
  
Once they were gone, I stalked out of the classroom and headed to the next class, with Uub trotting behind me.  
  
"You'll have to learn how to deal with them." I said over my shoulder. "It seems Eliza has shown an interest in you as well, so you'll just have to learn to handle them. Remember, the worst thing you can do is ignore them, or get angry with them. They like it when you do that."  
  
"You seem to have a lot of experience." Uub mumbled.  
  
"I've been going to this school much longer than you have, Uub." I grinned as we reached the classroom. "Besides, with a first name like Bra, you have to learn this stuff."  
  
Uub laughed. It was the first time I had heard him laugh at something. It didn't sound at all like his ordinary voice which was meek and no louder than a whisper. It was a loud, sunny laugh that rung throughout the hall until he caught himself and silenced his voice as we entered the classroom.  
  
.:.  
  
Uub trailed around after me for what remained of the day and I trailed around after Trunks. At least I did most of the time. I wasn't idiotic enough to follow my elder brother to his locker or to the bathroom. However, Uub almost walked into the girl's bathroom once, stopping himself just in time. And when I reemerged, he was waiting outside the door patiently as if he couldn't go anywhere without me.  
  
By the end of the day, this was really beginning to get on my nerves. Especially when school ended and he followed me to the locker rooms.  
  
"I don't think you really need to see this, Uub." I said, not bothering to look around and speak to him directly. "It isn't going to be pretty, especially if we walk in there together. Do you really want to make this more painful then it has to be?"  
  
"Kind of." I whirled around, bewildered. Couldn't he make one single decision for himself???  
  
"So you want to make life more terrible than it has to be, do you?" I said with a scowl.  
  
"Well, if you want me to."  
  
"NO!" I screamed, startling the few passers by that were left.  
  
"Ok then. I'll see you tomorrow." He gave me a friendly wave and hurried out of the building. I stared after him in shock for a while, unable to except their might be someone on this earth thicker than Marron.  
  
"Hey Bra." Eliza frowned, emerging from the darkness of the locker room after waiting for almost a full minute (poor thing!). "Where's your boyfriend gone?"  
  
"Home." I grinned evilly and marched into the locker room, followed by my confused prosecutors. 


	6. The new victum

A/N: I am getting heaps of fanfiction story ideas and I want to finish this really quickly so I can get started on the others. So I might put up a couple of chapters at a time cause I really want to start some other stuff.  
  
.:.  
  
Uub was waiting beside my locker with his arms loaded with books and wearing the same clothes as always. He smiled faintly when he saw me as always and waited beside me while I gathered books from my clattered locker. I had inherited the family talent for being incredibly messy.  
  
"Good morning." He said meekly when I approached.  
  
I didn't reply as I jabbed the locker key into the door and swung the thing open with such force, it smacked Uub in the face. He took several steps backwards and I gasped, realizing what I had done. When I checked to see if he was alright, I noticed he only had a small bruising bellow his right eye and breathed a sigh of relief. Goku's training with Uub was at least to some effect. Being smashed in the face with a thick block of steel didn't effect him as much as usual humans.  
  
"Oh gosh, sorry Uub. I'm just not in a great mood at the moment." I scathed, pulling things out of my locker and dumping them on the floor. The person in the locker hadn't arrived yet.  
  
"Why? What happened?" He asked, his voice filled with concern. "If you don't mind me asking."  
  
"You don't have to ask me if you can ask a question, Uub." I muttered, I wasn't really in the mood for this. "If you must know, Trunks and I had a fight."  
  
"Oh." Was Uub's only reply.  
  
You would think that Trunks and I were the kind of brother and sister who had common, shall we say, sibling disagreements. But behind closed doors, my usually stern and calm elder brother had the occasional argument. Possibly what made it even worse was having to spend time at both school and home. Spending too much time with the one person (especially if he was your brother) didn't really improve your relationship.  
  
"I bet you're used to it, though." I said, breaking the silence between Uub and I as he trotted after me down the corridors to our first class. "You have five younger siblings! I can scarcely imagine it, you must fight all the time."  
  
"Actually, we get on pretty well." Uub replied thoughtfully.  
  
I stared at him in disbelief. "You don't fight with any of them?"  
  
"No." Uub said with a shy smile, then added seriously. "Do you think I should?"  
  
"Oh yeah." I said sarcastically. "Just go home this afternoon and wreck a prefect sibling relationship that most children can never seem to accomplish."  
  
"Oh. Alright then."  
  
This guy was really beginning to get on my nerves. He couldn't make decisions for himself, he followed me around the school, he never changed clothes and he had trouble understanding sarcasm! Perhaps the friendship I had been hoping to achieve from this simple-minded villager was virtually impossible.  
  
We entered the classroom and I sat at the table beside Trunks with Uub next to me. The teacher entered the room and I began to take notes vigorously as usual. I managed to note, however, that Eliza was bending right over her desk, sticking out her top teeth and pretending to write at an insanely fast pace causing the other girls to fake a coughing fit to hide their laughter.  
  
I scowled, tore off a piece of paper and scribbled on it quickly before tossing it across the room so it jabbed into Eliza's springy hair. She unfolded it, read it and then gave me a look of loathing and hatred.  
  
After class, Eliza, Anna and Mez cornered Uub and I on our way to the next period. Eliza's fat face were red with fury in a perfect match with her hair. Anna was continuing to remind me of a turnip and Mez hovered in the background, glaring at me menacingly.  
  
"What was that about?" Eliza said, shoving her ugly mug of a face right into mine.  
  
"Well if you keep your face out of mine, I might be able to form a decent sentence without having to worry about opening my mouth only to find it filled with putrid acid, or better known as your breath."  
  
"I don't have time for you today, Bra." Eliza said in a voice no louder than a whisper. "But I'll make you pay for that note you passed last class."  
  
"Oh so now I'm in trouble for speaking the truth?" I grinned. "I don't see what the problem is."  
  
Eliza raised a fist to my face but Anna and Mez held her back. "Not here." Anna hissed. "After school, ok?"  
  
The three of them marched away and Uub, who had been milling around in the background, gave me a puzzled expression that could only mean he was asking for an explanation.  
  
"I sent her a note in class." I admitted as we hurried to our next class, Uub keeping annoyingly close. "Informing her that she was doing a fantastic job at imitating herself, and that it was a surprising she never got the role of 'Dorothy' all those years ago, but then I reminded myself that it wasn't that hard to act herself, and that if she was trying to imitate me, her acting skills were equivalent to a spoons."  
  
I laughed at the memory of the look on Eliza's face when she read the note, but Uub was still puzzled. I grinned as the last traces of the bad mood I had been carrying around that morning evaporated from my body.  
  
"The almighty Bra gives you permission to question her." I said sarcastically and Uub burst into sunny laughter.  
  
"I was just wondering what you meant by 'Dorothy'." Uub said as he caught himself.  
  
"You mean I never told you?" I asked, bewildered. I couldn't believe he had spent so much time trailing around after me and I hadn't told him that yet. "It's my favorite story."  
  
I only finished the story of Eliza and the school production of the 'Wizard of Oz' when we entered the classroom for the second class that day and Uub came into the classroom laughing. Most people stared at him in alarm, seeing as this was the loudest they had ever heard him, and for some it was the only noise they had heard him make so far.  
  
I have to confess to myself, his wild, sunny laugh seemed to brighten the classroom. Although from the vibrant red in his cheeks when he caught himself again, I realized that would be the last time Uub had an outburst like that during class.  
  
.:.  
  
When school ended, Uub followed me to the entrance of the locker room. I rounded on him, my temper rising with him for the first time that day.  
  
"Look, there's no need to come in here. Just go home, ok?"  
  
"Aw, don't be a spoil sport." I turned to see Eliza, Anna and Mez making their way towards us, strangely late. "Let your boyfriend join us, Bra. Not very nice to send him home like that."  
  
"Uub and I are not dating, Eliza." I retorted. "Because unlike you and every other selfish and conceited girl in this school, I have managed to understand that life has more meaning to it than sitting at home and swooning over a boy you and your ugly face will ever be able to have."  
  
"SHUT UP!" Mez boomed, pushing me inside the locker room, the others not far behind. "I am so sick of your smart-ass comments."  
  
"And I'm sick of waiting for Goten." Anna wailed. "Eliza, you said we'd have results by now."  
  
"We will have results, Anna." Eliza reassured her.  
  
"Yes, you will. Though I don't guarantee positive results. Again, I am forced to say no. No need to ask me the question again."  
  
Eliza threw her arms up in the air in frustration, then noticed Uub backing into a corner and smirked foully. She stalked across the locker room after him, motioning for the others to follow.  
  
"Uuby!" Eliza simpered, as if addressing a child. "You'll help us, right?"  
  
I groaned. At least I should be proud that some of my intelligence had rubbed off on Eliza. She knew now that Uub would be a much more venerable target and it wouldn't take long for him to bend to their will.  
  
"Look, all we need is someone to convince Trunks to go out with Marron and Goten to go out with Anna. You can do that, right?"  
  
"Um...if you want me to." Uub murmured innocently.  
  
"Yes we do. And if you don't, we'll make your life hell, understand?" Mez threatened, grabbing Uub by the collar. His dark face was dripping with enough sweat to make my own backyard swimming pool.  
  
"Err...kind of." Uub whispered. Mez dropped his collar, his eyes leering. While their attentions were fixed on Uub, I packed my bag quietly.  
  
"Right." I said once I had finished packing. "Best be off, then. See you tomorrow!"  
  
They rounded on me and Eliza's smirk broadened. "Oops, we forgot about Bra, didn't we? Hey, I just remembered, I need to pay you back for that note you sent in first period. Silly me, can't let something like that slip!"  
  
"Oh yeah. Be a real tragedy if you forgot." I mumbled sarcastically as Mez flexed her muscles and charged at me.  
  
It all happened in a matter of nano-seconds. I punched Mez with ease, using just enough strength to keep her winded long enough for Uub and I to leave and the pushed her into Eliza and Anna so they all flew back into the opposite wall. I beckoned to Uub and strutted out of the room towards the school's front entrance.  
  
"Listen to me, Uub." I called as I hurried to make it in time for the bus. "You can't do anything Eliza told you to. It will show her you're weak. That's the last thing you want, trust me. Take my advice and stand up to her. You're strong right? So if she really gets on your nerves, give her what she deserves. Do you understand?"  
  
"Kind of." Uub forced a little smile, making him appear more pathetic than ever. I sighed melodramatically, wondering if he had ever done anything in his life without someone having to ask him to do it. 


	7. Babysitting

No one was more relieved than Uub to see the beginning of the weekend. He didn't seem to realize that we had two days a week off school and was positively delighted to learn he didn't have to come into school on Saturday or Sunday.  
  
When I arrived in the locker room that afternoon, Eliza, Anna and Mez weren't there. I glanced at Uub, puzzled. Why didn't they turn up? In fact, they had been late for the past few days. What was their reason?  
  
Although I was perplexed, I decided to take their absence as a sign that I would have a day off our after school activities. I stuffed all my books into my bag and was happy to be on time for the bus.  
  
"Wow, someone's pretty early today, aren't they?" Trunks smirked as I made my way towards him.  
  
"Just get on the bus." I grumbled fiercely as I climbed on myself. My mind was still on Eliza, Anna and Mez. It wasn't is if I wasn't pleased for their absence, but it still deeply unsettled me. When have they given up a chance to make my life awful in the past?  
  
"Hey guys." Goten grinned foolishly as he sat in the seat near Trunks and I. "You guys coming tonight?"  
  
"Sure." Trunks answered simply.  
  
"Are you inviting Marron?" I asked casually, looking up from the book I had taken out of my bag to read. I didn't know for sure, but I had a feeling that Goten had been meaning to ask her to spend tonight at his house babysitting Pan while the rest of his family were out. He had invited Trunks and I only the day before.  
  
"Yeah. I called her last night." Goten beamed cheerfully. "She said she would. Oh, I invited Uub as well."  
  
This tore my attention away from my book completely. "He didn't say....you didn't say...." No one told me anything anymore.  
  
"Bra's tongue-tied!" Trunks exclaimed. "Wow, that's an achievement, Goten!"  
  
Both of them doubled over laughing and I glared at each of them evilly. I always thought Goten and Trunks' sense of humor was immature and ignorant and here was the proof of that. I was more than happy to get off the bus.  
  
Trunks, Marron, Goten and I walked to C.C together, Marron carrying an overnight bag and nattering insanely to Goten now that she wasn't in the presence of her other peers. When we reached C.C, Trunks and I packed quickly and then we all flew to Goten's place.  
  
Uub was already outside when we landed outside Goten's house. He was dressed (not to anyone's surprise) in his baggy black pants and oversized red jacket, a small bag swung over his shoulder.  
  
"Hi." He murmured shyly, his eyes on the soft grass.  
  
"Hi Uub." I replied brightly. "You never said you were coming."  
  
Uub shrugged. "I forgot."  
  
"Let's go inside then!" Goten exclaimed cheerfully after an awkward silence. He led the way into the house.  
  
Chi-Chi was attempting to do up Goku's tie when we found them inside Goten's house. Only it wasn't an easy task because Goku kept struggling, moving around and asking questions.  
  
"I don't see how a little piece of fabric can make me look better." Goku said as naively as ever while Chi-Chi grumbled to herself.  
  
The couple looked up, hearing us enter and Goku leapt away from his wife to greet us. The tie fell to the ground and Chi-Chi groaned with frustration but somehow managed to smile.  
  
"Hey kids, nice to see you all!" She said brightly as she picked up the neglected tie. "How are you guys?"  
  
"Good." Trunks, Marron, Uub and I said in unison.  
  
At that moment, Gohan and Videl came through the open door. They were both dressed formally and Gohan held is two year old daughter in his arms. She was dressed merely in her training outfit.  
  
"Ready to go?" Gohan asked as he set Pan on the floor.  
  
"Aw, I remember when I used to hold you like that, Gohan." Goku said suddenly as Chi-Chi attempted yet again to fix Goku's tie. Though all could now see she was fighting a losing battle.  
  
Gohan blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "Err....thanks dad. We better hurry up or we'll be late."  
  
"Fine! You'll just have to be the only man not wearing a tie." Chi-Chi shouted, dropping the thing to the floor and marching out the front door. The other adults followed her, saying a quick goodbye on their way out.  
  
"It makes no difference to me, Chi-Chi. You know I'd probably go naked if there weren't any clothes left to wear." Goku said as they walked away from the house and the rest of us burst out laughing.  
  
"Let's eat, I'm starving!" Goten exclaimed. I had to agree that I was feeling particularly hungry this evening and so I followed everyone else, except Pan and Marron, into Goten's kitchen.  
  
"What are we having?" I asked Goten while he bustled to the fridge and swung it open.  
  
"Fish." He grinned, doing a sort of dance on the spot. "Freshly caught this morning. I'm not much of a cook and from what I remember, neither is Trunks so we really need your help, Bra."  
  
"Oh don't have a stereotypical view on me just because I am a female." I frowned. "Not all women are good cooks, you know. Marron is the living example of that."  
  
But secretly I was proud of my cooking skills. And although it is against all my morals, I did enjoy cooking when I had the chance to so I didn't complain anymore and set to work on the fish.  
  
To my surprise, Uub seemed to be a confident cook as well. At least he was until it came time to operate an electrical oven. But he successfully removed the uneatable fish parts because it wasn't something I was fond of doing and I had to give him credit on a job well done.  
  
"Where's Marron and Pan?" I asked as Uub and I lifted the prepared fish into the oven after having to explain what it was.  
  
Trunks and Goten, who had been neglecting the cooking altogether and having a private conversation, suddenly gazed up at me as if they had only just noticed my presence and shrugged simultaneously.  
  
"Marron? Pan? Where are you?" I hollered. In moments, Marron joined us in the kitchen with the rosy cheeked toddler in her arms.  
  
"About time." I mumbled under my breath, but said more clearly. "Dinner's nearly ready. Uub and I will watch it if you guys want to do something else."  
  
I didn't know if I could stand having Marron in the room while I was trying to cook for more than a minute, so I decided it was best to send all of them away for a while except for Uub so I could have a little company.  
  
While the rest waited in the living room, I helped myself to a glass of water and another for Uub, who accepted it willingly.  
  
"Where did you learn to cook?" I asked, attempting conversation.  
  
"I help with the cooking sometimes at home." Uub confided. "But I haven't used an oven before."  
  
Obviously. "So how are you finding school?" I asked quizzically, changing the subject.  
  
"Ok...kind of."  
  
"Homework isn't hard?"  
  
"No." He bent to check the fish in the oven. "As long as the teacher explains it to us in class, I'm fine."  
  
I had slowly been discovering that Uub picked up on things very quickly and he had a good memory. I smiled kindly, pleased that he had exceeded my first expectations. My smile made him blush deeply and he turned away from me so fast he collided with the kitchen chair. My smile transformed into a smirk; I liked having that effect on him.  
  
Uh oh! I was thinking like Marron again! I smacked myself in the forehead as if that would knock the thoughts out of my mind. No more soppy, teenage thoughts, I ordered myself, or I'll punish my oversized brain by depriving it of a non school related book for the next two weeks.  
  
"Foods ready." Uub interrupted, pointing to the oven. "Should I get it out?"  
  
"Well...yes. That's what you do when food is ready." I bent down to help him and together we set the fish onto a giant plate and then hurried to set the table.  
  
After dinner, we gathered in the living room to watch the DVD I brought over. In my hast to pack, I failed to realize I had packed one of my mother's soppy romances instead of the document on invertebrates that I had wanted to take. To my disgust, we watched it anyway, except not even Marron showed any interest in it. Surprisingly, Trunks and Pan both actually enjoyed it.  
  
"What were they doing at the end?" She asked Trunks. "Why were they kissing and stuff?"  
  
"Because that's what people do when they get married." He replied with a kind smile. "They have a wedding. That's when everybody dresses up and brings the people presents and the girl gets to wear a pretty dress like that one."  
  
"I want to get married and wear a pretty dress!" Pan shouted and everyone beamed. She was just too adorable. "Can I get married? Please?" She begged.  
  
"Maybe when you get a bit bigger." Trunks chuckled and picked the little girl up in his arms.  
  
"But I want to marry today and have a big cake and lots of flowers and a white dress! Please?"  
  
Trunks' face was slightly flushed and I smirked cruelly, taking this opportunity to give my brother a hard time.  
  
"Aw, give her a wedding Trunks!" I said with a laugh.  
  
"Yeah." Marron joined in. "She can marry Uub!"  
  
No she can not! Uub, who had been sitting to the side and keeping quiet, blushed and shuffled around stupidly. I gave Marron my dirtiest look; it was unfair of her to pick on Uub like that after his fist week of high school. If Pan was going to marry anyone, it would be Marron's crush and my big brother.  
  
"DON'T FREAK OUT THE NEW GUY, THAT'S TOTALLY SLACK! PAN CAN MARRY TRUNKS INSTEAD." I screamed, startling everyone after the dull drol of the movie before.  
  
"Oh can I? Please, please, please?" Pan begged, grasping hold of Trunks' pants seeing as she could only reach that high. Trunks grinned foolishly at her innocence.  
  
"I guess. Whatever."  
  
"Yay!" She leapt into the air with joy. "Let's get married now! Like they did in the movie!"  
  
"Maybe some other time." Trunks patted her on the head. "It's bedtime now." He turned to face Goten. "I can put her to bed, if you want."  
  
"Yeah sure." Goten shrugged.  
  
After Trunks left with Pan, I crossed the room and sat beside Uub, who was still nervous and sitting stiffly in his chair. I couldn't blame him after being asked to propose marriage to a two year old.  
  
"Thanks." He whispered as I sat beside him.  
  
"Don't mention it. It was worth it to put my brother in that position."  
  
I laughed but Uub was eyeing me with confusion. "I don't see why you dislike Trunks."  
  
"It's actually healthy to have sibling disagreements as it provides interest and teaches the ability to express feelings in a friendly and accepting environment." I stated. "It's unnatural to be so loving and kind with your siblings all the time, don't you agree?"  
  
I knew the reply before he even said it. "Kind of." To my surprise, he added his own original thought. "Trunks is good with kids."  
  
"Always has been." I confessed, remembering days in my younger years when Trunks and I used to play carefree games together. "He doesn't take after our dad much."  
  
"Oh?" Uub coaxed me to continue talking.  
  
"Trust me, Vegeta is the exact opposite to his son." I said truthfully. "But for some reason, I find it easier to talk with Vegeta than to talk with Trunks, although Vegeta is a hard man to be close to. He must have really liked my mother to marry her. I guess they're the living proof that opposites attract."  
  
I stopped myself, unable to believe I had just told Uub everything I had. Somehow, the words seemed to spill out from inside of me and now Uub knew all these facts about my family. Things I preferred to keep secret.  
  
"Tell me about your family." I instructed, feeling a little odd and out of place now. It was only fair that Uub gave me the same amount of information into his personal life.  
  
"Erm...my father passed away two years ago..." He began awkwardly. "So it's been very hard on the rest of us."  
  
"I already know that!" I interrupted, not really wanting to go into the details of loss and disease. "I meant I wanted you to tell me about what your family is like."  
  
"Oh. Well, my mother can be a little hysterical at times...."  
  
"Tell me about it." I interrupted a second time.  
  
"But she's really alright. She loves us all and she only wishes she knew a better way to make life easy for us. She places great responsibility in me as the eldest and that is why I am receiving education above my other brothers and sisters. Although I believe that Lorna would be better at it."  
  
"Lorna?"  
  
"My sister. She's extremely intelligent and could do great things with a good education. Lorna's the third born child, first born daughter and twelve years old. Then there's Kida, the youngest. She's only two but she can be really irritating at times. I don't like her much."  
  
"So there is a chance of some sibling disagreements in your family!" I grinned. "I like Kida already."  
  
"Next I have three brothers. Thai, Saul and Garron who are all pretty sinister and closed off. Thai is fourteen, Saul is eight and Garron is six."  
  
"It sounds like your brothers will get on well with my father, then." I smiled. "Who do you get on best with?"  
  
"Lorna." His face turned tomato red and sweat began to drip down his face. "Because....I guess she reminds me of you."  
  
I had no idea weather to be pleased by this or not. From what I could tell, he was trying to offer me a compliment and because my face was also turning red, I supposed I was flattered. Yet I had never met his sister and until I did, I wouldn't know if it really was a compliment or not. If it was a compliment, it sure was a strange one.... 


	8. The common teenager

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while but yeah....been busy. In regards to my reviewer, Marshmallow13Dragon, I am sorry but I really, REALLY don't want to make a sequel to 'Gohan goes to boarding school'. However, I will be writing a new Gohan/Videl story as soon as I finish this series and my other story, 'A past best forgotten'.  
  
And just a note of thank you to all my reviewers. You guys make writing worthwhile!  
  
.:.  
  
The next week at school, Eliza, Anna and Mez cornered Uub and I leaving a classroom.  
  
"It seems you have been ignoring our little request, Uub." Eliza said, falsely sweetly. "We don't want to make your life hell but we will if we have to. The school dance is less than two months away and if Marron and Anna don't have Trunks and Goten as their dates by then, you'll have to deal with Mez. Got it?"  
  
"Kind of." Came Uub's expectant reply.  
  
"Well what don't you get?" Eliza simpered, upholding that revoltingly fake sweetness.  
  
"He probably doesn't understand why two decent and respected young men such as Trunks and Goten would even consider taking Anna to the school dance. Although perhaps Goten wouldn't mind if Marron went with him..." I added the last sentence as an afterthought.  
  
"You stay out of this, Bra." Eliza warned. "I wasn't talking to you."  
  
"Well that makes a pleasant change." I said airily. "I suppose it's a relief that you're not shoving your ugly face into mine every day but I doubt that Uub finds it to be an enjoyable experience either."  
  
"Right. That does it." Mez advanced on me and I prepared to fight, when the door opened and students entered the classroom to wait for next class. Mez had no choice but to back off.  
  
"You were lucky that your girlfriend was here to save you, Uub." Eliza scathed. "But next time you won't be so lucky."  
  
Anna nodded in agreement. "It seems we need to break up the nerd couple which is such a shame. Seeing as 'Uubs go' so well with 'Bras'."  
  
They cackled with false laughter at the obviously well prepared joke. It seemed childish that something as simple as the way she pronounced 'Uub' to sound like a word that did indeed often accompany the word 'Bra' could be considered comical. Glancing at Uub, I gathered he found this new joke as amusing as a funeral.  
  
"How do you do it?" He asked in a low whisper as we walked to next class.  
  
"How do I do what?" I said with a hint of impressiveness. Uub hadn't asked me if he could ask a question. Maybe I was finally helping him to think his own original thoughts!  
  
"You act as if they don't bother you." Uub mumbled. "They really bother me. And you know just what to say to them as well."  
  
"It's no great skill. Just practice and a few good years of experience. You can't let them know you feel this way. Your weakness becomes their strength."  
  
We entered the next classroom which was already full and took seats at the only available table, far away from my usual place beside Trunks. For some reason, it didn't seem to bother me. Possibly because I wasn't sitting on my own completely. Eliza was talking to Trunks quite happily and he was blissfully unaware of what happened scarcely a few moments ago.  
  
"He doesn't know?" Uub asked and I didn't need to ask what he meant. He had been watching me stare at Trunks and Eliza since we had arrived in the classroom. When I shook my head, he cried in alarm. "If you told him, they would stop bothering you."  
  
"Only until they recover from Trunks' beating and then they would just keep at it even if Trunks continues to give them a hard time. I know Eliza; she's persistent. It will just get worse if Trunks becomes involved. Do you really want to give Eliza the satisfaction of knowing she had finally broken our spirits when she discovers I went crying to my older brother?"  
  
Uub considered this for a while, then shook his head. We were silent through the whole lesson, concentrating on the lesson. I expected Uub to ask me for help, but strangely, he hadn't asked me for help yet at all. Most of our teachers seemed to be pleased with him, so his grades mustn't be that bad. I supposed this was thanks to his excellent memory and ability to catch onto things quickly. If it had been anyone else in that position, they would have had a terrible time understanding things.  
  
"I take back what I said before," I said to him when the bell rang, signaling lunch hour and we forwarded out onto the school grounds. "You know, about you needing a tutor because you haven't had any previous education. You have a fantastic memory capacity and you are an incredibly quick learner."  
  
"Thanks." Uub smiled a little broader than usual. I grinned in reply; he looked nice when he smiled. Despite the fact he wore the same black pants and red jacket everyday, of course. "I'm nothing compared to you, though. You're a genius."  
  
It was the first compliment he had ever given me, and although it was a basic, common compliment a received often, I was a little surprised and perplexed considering it came from Uub's mouth. I felt my cheeks reddening and it took me a good few minutes to realize I was blushing....me....._blushing_!  
  
"Listen, Uub." I mumbled as we sat down together underneath a tree, a considerable distance away from most of our peers. "I was wondering, like, um...."  
  
_What_? I was speechless, and I added the word 'like' to the middle of my sentence like the common teenager! There was definitely something wrong with me.  
  
"What is it?" He asked with concern as if he could sense the fact that something was wrong with me.  
  
"You should smile more often." I added quickly. "Because it is simply unnatural and unhealthy to be stony faced every waking moment of the day."  
  
"I've never had much to smile about." Replied Uub, taken aback by me sudden, random comment.  
  
"Do you smiling can make a person feel pleased with themselves?" I said, in the voice I always seemed to obtain when I was stating a fact. "It is a healthy way to encourage self esteem and helps you to recognize your inner beauty. Oh, and did you know that the average person smiles over fifty times on an average day?"  
  
Uub had no chance to reply because Lucas, my fellow student librarian, approached us and rudely interrupted the conversation, hitching his oversized glasses up on his ultra pale nose, pushing his plain mousy hair back so that his pimpled forehead became more visible and grinned to show off his braces.  
  
"Hey Bra." Lucas squeaked in his ordinary high pitched voice. "Are you going to the dance?"  
  
"No," I said absent mindedly. "I believe that teenage social activity is just an excuse for adolescents to dress up in clothes far too mature for them and flirt pathetically with each other."  
  
"Yeah, I agree." Lucas nodded solemnly. "I won't go either."  
  
"Is that all?" I quirked an eyebrow. "Because Uub and I are engaging in an important conversation about the effects smiling often has on a person's self esteem."  
  
"Um...interesting." Lucas mumbled half-heartedly. "Well, catch you later, then."  
  
He stumbled away, his legs lanky beneath the rest of his weight. I shook my head sadly, feeling a sense of sympathy wash over me as he hurried away. Lucas and I had very much in common, especially with our relationship with peers. But because of his unfortunate appearance and a name that rhymed so well with mucus, he seemed to suffer even more than I.  
  
"Who's that?" Uub asked quietly.  
  
"Lucas Stugniburg." I whispered back. I expected him to splutter with insane laughter at first, but then reminded myself that Uub's name was just as strange and he wasn't the sort to laugh insanely anyway.  
  
"Was everything you said about the dance true?" Uub questioned.  
  
"Most definitely." I answered truthfully. "Unless you enjoy hyperactive teenage dancing, I suggest you follow my lead and chose not to go."  
  
From what I saw at Trunks' birthday party, I knew that Uub probably did agree with me. So I didn't pester him for an answer when he settled back against the tree and stared absent mindedly into space.  
  
.:.  
  
"My God, Bra." Trunks shouted. "Do you have to be so persistent?"  
  
"It's a quality I pride myself on." I smirked evilly. "And don't take the lord's name in vain or christens will be highly offended."  
  
Trunks rounded on his heel and stormed out of the study we had both been sitting in, finishing off our homework. Well, Trunks had been starting and I had been finishing but I did need to give my elder brother some credit. He certainly wasn't stupid, just a little lazy. But he had been trying hard with his studies since Mum began to pester him about getting good marks in the HSC so he could take over the family company.  
  
Although I did enjoy playing the role of irritating little sister when the opportunity arose and I did have an excuse to do so. Marron's obsessive flirting with him ever since the time and date of the school dance had been announced. I followed him out of the room and down the corridor, skipping childishly behind him.  
  
"You shouldn't blame yourself, Trunks." I laughed. "Blonde bimbo girls just seem to find you irresistible. I suppose you would be used to such behavior now. In fact, I think you enjoy attention."  
  
"No I don't." He retorted. I knew for a fact that he didn't, but I was in an irritating mood today.  
  
"If you want, I could fill in for Marron while we're at home." I used my superior acting skills to put on my best imitation of Marron. "_Let's ask each other random questions, Trunks. Oh come on, it will be like, totally so much fun!_"  
  
"Give it a rest, will you?" Trunks whirled around to face me.  
  
"Now, Trunks. Sibling rivalry is a healthy part of growing up so we must engage in casual arguments to teach each other the values of argument and consequence. Now it's your turn to come up with a witty reply."  
  
Trunks ignored me and continued pacing towards his room. Is was ready to call it a day when he spun around wildly, the glint in his perfect blue eyes warning me that he had, indeed, come up with something witty.  
  
"Ok, I have something." He said slowly, enjoying holding me in suspense. "What about you and Uub? _Did you know smiling makes you feel better_?"  
  
I froze, eyeing him suspiciously. "Who told you about that?"  
  
"Eliza," He smirked. "She caught you flirting with him under the tree. Looks like Marron isn't the only one trying to find a date."  
  
"I thought I told you, Trunks Vegeta Briefs." I scowled. "I am not even going to bother going to that dance."  
  
"Fine," Trunks shrugged. "Believe what you want, little sister. But believe me, I know better."  
  
I cleared my throat loudly, glaring at him fiercely. "Oh shut up."  
  
"Make me."  
  
"Easily."  
  
I knew better than to attack my brother, who was a highly skilled fighter. But I learnt from a young age that my verbal ability was my greatest strength.  
  
"Well?" Trunks enquired, waiting my next reply.  
  
"May I also point out that your irresistible charm has reached such great heights that even a mere toddler had decided she'd have you as a husband." I recalled Pan's obsession with wanted my brother as a 'husband'.  
  
"Gosh, do you have to bring that up?" Trunks' cheeks burned red. "Fine, then. You win, but let me remind you that what I said about Uub is true. If were you, I'd quit flirting before it becomes something more because you know what Dad would say if he found out you were dating."  
  
"We won't date!" I screamed as he ran upstairs, laughing hysterically.  
  
I couldn't know it then, but for once, I was wrong about something. And in a few short weeks, my life would change forever.... 


	9. Revengeful Dating

"Hey Goten," Trunks smirked. "Don't you think my sister should go to the dance with Uub?"  
  
I groaned. Not this again. I supposed this was my punishment for irritating Trunks so much yesterday. I had a feeling he was planning on brining this subject up as much as possible during the day.  
  
"Sure." Goten answered, somewhat dully. Trunks and I shared a worried glance; if Goten wasn't speaking enthusiastically, there was definitely something wrong.  
  
"I'm not going to the stupid dance." I mumbled, hardly putting emphasis on my words. I was much to worried about Goten to care.  
  
I loved Goten like a second elder brother. After all, Goten and Trunks had been best friends their whole life and we were close enough to be considered related. I had a feeling that Marron was somehow connected to Goten's bad mood because he seemed happy enough yesterday afternoon.  
  
"Listen, Goten." I whispered in his ear as we reached the bus stop. "Marron is a loser, don't worry about it."  
  
Goten gave me an odd look but didn't reply as we had reached the bus stop and, as usual, Goten and Trunks were at once surrounded by a group of teenagers. I moved towards the back and took out a book, wondering if my life may be made easier if I flew to school the way Uub did....  
  
.:.  
  
"Hey Bra!" Lucas said excitedly as I made my way towards the classroom. Uub, strangely, wasn't at school yet.  
  
"Morning, Lucas." I answered formally, giving him a curt nod. I headed towards the next class at a quickened pace and he struggled to keep up, lagging an obscene amount of books.  
  
"I'm going to library to return these." He said, nodding towards the large pile in his arms. "Can you give me a hand?"  
  
I nodded and took half the pile in my own arms. Together, we passed our classroom and headed towards the library, a direction we both knew well. Lucas and I managed to get on seemly enough. However, neither of us spent enough time in each other's company to be considered friends. It was a shame, seeing as we had so much in common.  
  
"Bra, I have to ask." Lucas muttered, staring at the untied shoelaces of his oversized black school shoes. "What's going on with you and Uub?"  
  
Not him too! I would have thought that Lucas may be my temporary relief from this sort of thing. "Well, I guess we're friends."  
  
"According to Eliza, you're going out." Lucas lowered his voice to a whisper. "Actually, she set me up to try and ask you out to the dance yesterday. Don't tell her I said this...but she's a little scary."  
  
I spluttered with laughter and dropped the books I was carrying. I bent to pick them up again and Lucas waited patiently beside me.  
  
"I'm being serious." He pushed his glasses further up his nose to stop them sliding off his face. "I don't know why everyone likes her, she isn't very nice."  
  
"I agree completely." I said truthfully. "It seems strange that the unkind, hideous and overall stupid people be considered popular. But really, it's all to do with your ability to speak in public, the amount of money you have, and your family position in the school."  
  
"Then you should be the most popular girl in school!" Lucas cried.  
  
"I wish." I sorted. "Unfortunately, I have been granted the gift of a brilliant mind and therefore, according the social stranded of high school, I can't ever have a social life."  
  
Lucas grinned. "Well, Uub is your friend, isn't he? I mean, you two seem as close as a couple. From a distance of course." He added the last sentence quickly, catching the menacing look in the stare I gave him.  
  
"If you are implying that Uub and I are dating, you would most definitely be mistaken." I said and stalked into the library, dumping my book pile and hurrying back to class.  
  
.:.  
  
Uub was in the classroom when I arrived. Although I was glad to see he had arrived, I was irritated that he was following me so intently as always. Especially after my little meeting with Lucas. Still, I made a point of enduring it as long as I could.  
  
He left me alone (finally) towards lunch when he went to the bathroom and with no where else to go, I followed Trunks and Goten into the lunch room.  
  
"How did you know?" Goten whispered in my ear.  
  
I tapped my head with the pencil I was twirling. "Used my brain. Listen, she's not worth it, Goten. Just leave her alone."  
  
"I can't." Goten smiled. "It's like you and Uub, I guess."  
  
I groaned with frustration; really not feeling in the mood for this. "We aren't dating."  
  
"I know you're not." Goten retorted. "But it's just funny, you know....the way he follows you around all the time. The way you just let him. I don't know, I guess people just think that you are...you know....dating."  
  
He did make an interesting point. I gave him a withering smile as we sat together in the lunch room. Soon enough, Uub found us and squashed onto the table beside me.  
  
"Aw, Bra's sitting with her boyfriend." Trunks whispered so that only Goten, Uub and I could hear him. "How cute!"  
  
"Not nearly as cute as you and your blonde dates." I gestured to the group of grade eight blondes pointing and giggling at him behind their hands. "What did I tell you, Trunks? Kids love you!"  
  
Trunks noticed the girls for the first time and gave them a shy smile. The girls squealed with excitement and scuttled away, chattering insanely loudly.  
  
"Oh please." I rolled my eyes, turning my back on them and chewing down my food with an expression of distaste.  
  
"Chill, Bra." Trunks frowned. "Like you said, they're just kids."  
  
"Pathetic adolescents who have a problem keeping their hormones under control." I spat with such anger that it made even Goten laugh, although he probably didn't know what was so hysterically funny.  
  
.:.  
  
After school, Trunks and Goten made us wait for them in the hall. Despite my resentment in having to meet with Eliza, Anna and Mez that afternoon, I was desperate to leave the school as soon as possible and start our new assignment for science, about the effects of microorganisms on the human bloodstream.  
  
I was attempting the explain the prosperities to Uub when I noticed that Marron had left us and wondered elsewhere.  
  
"Did you see where Marron went?" I asked.  
  
"Kind of."  
  
I counted to ten slowly in my head to cool my temper before repeating. "Did you see where Marron went."  
  
This time, Uub replied directly by nodding and pointing down a nearby corridor. I grabbed his arm and wrenched him after her. We found her with her ear pressed against a classroom door, listening intensively to the conversation on the other side.  
  
"Marron!" I shouted as we rounded the corridor and she pulled away from the door quickly. But not quickly enough. Goten and Trunks emerged from the classroom, standing behind her on the other side so she was enclosed between us.  
  
Sorry. I just came back to find my pen and I thought I heard voices in here so I wasn't sure if I came in or not. I only just arrived when you guys turned up." She spun an incredible lie that took so much effort, it left her breathless. It was painfully obvious that she had been eaves dropping. Even Goten could see that. I was perplexed as to what the two best friends were discussing in the empty classroom. In fact, I had almost decided to ask Marron personally for her information. But reminding myself that it was not my business (nor Marron's for that matter) I decided to hold my tongue.  
  
"You came back for the sake of a pen?" Trunks asked, his eyebrows raised.  
  
"A makeup pen." Marron replied quickly. "But I found it now so everything is ok. Now come on, let's go."  
  
"Wait." I interrupted. "I still need to get my stuff from my locker."  
  
"Hurry up then." Trunks said impatiently. "We'll meet you at the bus stop."  
  
I took Uub's hand and marched him back towards the locker room. He was watching me in confusion, most probably considering his locker was not in the same room as mine and yet I was dragging him after me.  
  
"We're going to face them. Right here. Right now." I stated bravely and the confusion cleared from Uub's face instantly.  
  
Of course, Eliza, Mez and Anna were in the locker room. I was slowly accustomed to them arriving late now, but I was even later this time. Eliza gave me her usual look of utter loathing and hatred which I ignored and wrenched my locker door wide open.  
  
"Afternoon, Eliza." I said, my back facing her.  
  
"Don't talk to us like that!" Anna squealed.  
  
"You're right. You don't deserve to be addressed politely."  
  
"That's it." I felt Mez advance on me from behind us. Eliza and Anna held her back, allowing me to quickly scoop my things into my bag, snap my locker shut and turn to face them.  
  
"Someone's a bit late." Eliza smirked, her eyes darting between Uub and I. "Stopped for a bit of kissing behind the toilets, huh?"  
  
"Such a shame the nerd couple need to be split up." Anna sighed.  
  
"Why do we need to split up?" I laughed. "Oh, I see. We are simply too strong together, aren't we?"  
  
"Of course not!" Eliza retorted. I knew better; however I simply wasn't in the mood to take the conversation further since Trunks, Goten and Marron were waiting for me.  
  
"Should give them a chance for one more date, though. Don't you think, Anna?" Eliza asked her friend. "I mean, they could go to the school dance together. But only if they fulfill our little request."  
  
An idea sprung into my mind. Beaming brightly and pulling Uub into a one armed hug, much to his surprise, I said simply. "Well it's going to take a lot to split us up, because Uub and I are as close as Romeo and Juliet."  
  
Eliza, Anna and Mez gawked at us in shock, their eyes widening and their jaws dropping. Uub was watching me wearily, so I removed my hand from his shoulders and winked, mouthing 'I'll tell you later'.  
  
"You mean....you're g-going out?" Anna gasped.  
  
"That's right. Uub and I will see you guys at the dance, then." I waved cheerily and pulled Uub out of the room after me.  
  
"What happened?" Uub asked me anxiously as we made our way to the school's front entrance. "Are we going out now?"  
  
"I did what I did only to use my favorite tool: reverse physiology. Eliza, Anna and Mez enjoyed taunting us about being a couple. So I thought that if we made it seem obvious that we were, in fact, dating, they would have one less weapon against us."  
  
"So we're going to the dance now?" He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"It'll show them who's boss, don't you think? Now, do you have a phone?" When he shook his head, I continued. "I figured as much. Here, this is a cell phone. I'll use it to call you and talk to you, ok?"  
  
"Alright then." Uub pocketed the cell phone I had given him after examining it with interest.  
  
"To answer my call, press the red button, ok? I'll call tonight."  
  
Uub nodded and then we parted, heading in separate directions to make our journey home.  
  
.:.  
  
My thoughts revolved around Uub during the bus trip home. I could scarcely believe we were now going out as a couple. Even if it was only for revenge, it still was a date, wasn't it?  
  
And although I didn't admit it to anyone, I was strangely and silently excited.... 


	10. Realizations

"What the hell did you think you were doing!?" I shouted, stamping on my brother's foot and giving him an evil glare.  
  
I could hardly believe that Trunks would sink low enough to actually ask Marron to the stupid dance. Especially when he knew that his best friend found her attractive. It was the lamest and most pathetic thing he had done in his lifetime. And trust me; that was saying a lot considering some of the events he had taken part in and I had been forced to endure over a large amount of time.  
  
Trunks turned to face me, smiling malevolently. "Well, if you overheard me asking Marron out to the end of year school dance and her accepting then you pretty much saw for yourself, didn't you?"  
  
I stared at him in utmost awe. It was an amazing factor, in my opinion, that Trunks could prove to be arrogant, crude, mischievous, irritating and juvenile all at one time.  
  
"Did it ever occur to you that your life-long best friend has had a crush on her for as long as your friendship has lasted?" I yelled, yanking the phone out of his hand.  
  
"Strangely enough, Goten asked me to." Trunks' voice was oddly serious. "No idea why, but he seemed to really want me to. So I did."  
  
After a long pause, I said: "Trunks Vegeta Briefs, a.k.a, underwear boy, I don't think I'll ever be able to understand you."  
  
"Nor will I be able to understand you, Bra Bulma Briefs, a.k.a, Madam G- String."  
  
"MY NAME IS BRA!" I bellowed, dialing the number of my old cell phone that now belonged to Uub. I only hoped he remembered how to answer the call.  
  
"Hello?" Said a meek voice on the other end of the phone as Trunks shifted away, bawling with laughter.  
  
"Ah, good. I was afraid you wouldn't know how to pick up. I can't see how you can manage to cope with all those siblings; I can barely handle one!"  
  
"Are you really inside that tiny little box?" Uub asked distantly. I could picture him examining the phone with interest and sighed.  
  
"No, Uub. A telephone is a way of communication invented in 1870 by Alexander Graham Bell for the purpose of designing a faster way to make verbal communication with people living further away than by simply using a letter or traveling for months in order to tell someone a single message. It was designed for making life easier."  
  
"Oh really?" Uub asked, obviously fascinated. "I have to tell Lorna. She thinks this cell phone is really interesting."  
  
I listened with fascination as he repeated all the facts I had just presented him. I was hardly able to believe that he could simply repeated every piece of information I had just given him like that, without even having to ask me to repeat myself.  
  
"Unless I am mistaken, you have the biggest memory capacity I have ever encountered." I said with deepest sincerity, attempting to hide my obvious amazement.  
  
"Um....thank you." He mumbled.  
  
"Look, I've just been thinking. We don't have to carry out our plan for revengeful dating unless you feel ok with it. I really don't care; it's up to you. Do you want to?"  
  
"Kind of."  
  
Why did I even bother? "Why and why not?"  
  
"Don't rightly know." I could practically feel him shrugging.  
  
"Ok, fine then! We won't go!" I shouted with frustration.  
  
"If you want to."  
  
"Then we will go!"  
  
"If you want to."  
  
I had had enough of this for one night. After saying a quick goodbye, I hung up and proceeded upstairs to my room. Halfway up the staircase, I ran into my dear old dad, coming back from training in his Gravity Room.  
  
"Evening." I grinned, moving aside to allow him downstairs. Vegeta merely grunted. "Well someone's feeling a bit grumpy this evening, aren't they? Mind telling me why?"  
  
"The woman is carrying on about this pathetic human ritual when you celebrate the day you became bonded."  
  
After spending fifteen years in Vegeta's company, I had grown accustomed to the way he spoke and I had enough understanding to know what he was talking about. "You mean, your anniversary?"  
  
"That's what she calls it." Vegeta spat. "She wants me to buy her FLOWERS! Those pathetic little twigs that get in your way? Why would anyone actually want that!?"  
  
"You raise an interesting point." I pondered. "What really is point of having objects for the sake of ornamental decoration if they continue to disrupt your day-to-day life?"  
  
"Tell her that." Vegeta scowled.  
  
"Don't worry." I smirked in a way that was bound to make him proud. "I have a cunning plan to distract 'the woman' long enough for her to forget the whole element of anniversary."  
  
Leaving him clueless, I scurried upstairs into my parents bedroom where my mother was sitting at her dressing table, removing makeup (typically). She beamed brightly when she saw me, turning to face me with one eye lined with running mascara and the other perfectly clear except for traces of blue eye shadow.  
  
"What is it, darling?" Bulma asked me blandly. "Is this going to be one of those 'special' moments a mother shares with her teenage daughter?"  
  
"If you decide to see it in that way." I took several steps back, bracing myself for the eruption of parenting emotion. "I just thought you may find it interesting to learn that I have a boyfriend."  
  
The reaction was predictable. Bulma blinked at her daunting reflection in disbelief for a good five minutes before pouncing on me and locking me in a hug that scarcely offered me room to breath.  
  
"Oh you don't know how long I've been waiting for this day!" Bulma squealed in delight, tears streaming down her face and making the makeup even less plausible than before. "My little baby Bra has her very own boyfriend. Oh, you don't know how proud I am of you!"  
  
"Well little baby Bra has a sever lack of oxygen at the moment so if you let me go, it would be more than appreciated."  
  
Bulma obeyed, releasing me from her life-threatening embrace and held me at arms length, eyeing every aspect of my teenage body and succeeding in, yet again, 'creeping me out'.  
  
"We'll have to fix you up now you have a date." Bulma giggled. "Oh, this will be so fun! I can buy you some lovely new clothes."  
  
"If you remember correctly, you failed in succeeding buying me more than one outfit last time I allowed you to take me shopping. Anyway, now that I have a boyfriend, shouldn't I dress down in order to drive other possible candidates away from me?"  
  
"Your first date." Bulma sighed, clasping a hand to her heart. "I remember mine ever so well. I was just a lanky sixteen year old, traveling through the desert with a young boy unbeknownst to the fact that I would find true love in a desert bandit."  
  
I groaned; it was now a critical matter that I tear her away from those soap operas she had wasted half her life being tuned into. My mother snapped back to reality, remembering that she was now a married woman with two teenage children and couldn't waist time pondering about her past boyfriend whilst her daughter was in the room.  
  
"Well, can you tell me who it is?" Bulma asked excitedly, doing a little jig on the spot as if to indicate that she desperately needed to go to the bathroom. "Let me guess, it's that blonde haired footballer, isn't it? The really cute one who always winks at you when he's on the field."  
  
"Josh?" I snorted. "First of all, he wasn't looking at me anyway, he was looking at Marron who just so happened to be sitting beside me the one day you decided to attend a match on Saturday. Secondly, if you consider men who have a head far to big for their peanut sized brain and the emotional capacity of a slug to be 'cute', then I do believe that you desperately need therapy. And finally, it isn't Josh, it's Uub."  
  
Bulma froze, her lips mouthing wordlessly but no sound coming out, pausing through her jig with her arms raised in the air and her legs spread at an insane angle. "You mean that hideously ugly, skinny kid from a third world country?"  
  
"A close enough description." I replied, taken aback. "Weren't you the one telling me to be extra nice to him while at school?"  
  
"Sure, but that's only because it was the polite thing to do." Bulma gasped. "You can't date him, Bra."  
  
"Why not?" I frowned, becoming slightly annoyed.  
  
"I just can't see how anyone would want him as their boyfriend."  
  
I jumped, coming to a startling realization. "Oh so you think that I can't date Uub just because he simply doesn't have the ideal appearance for a perfect boyfriend, do you? You think that just because I was granted your good looks means that I have to date an attractive person?"  
  
"No, not at all." Bulma said earnestly. "Oh I didn't mean to say it like that, Bra. Please, don't cry."  
  
It was too late. I was already bawling; how could anyone be so cruel? Sure, Uub wasn't very attractive, but he was kind, sweet and pretty intelligent when granted a good education. I stared at my mother; an image of perfection (despite the makeup) and who had all the necessary qualities to be a model. Qualities she had passed onto me.  
  
"Not everyone was lucky enough to be beautiful when they were born, Mum. Some people didn't have a fantastically elegant mother or a tall, dark and handsome father. It isn't fair to judge people just because they mightent be the ideal image of perfection because there are over five billion people in the world who all have their own original appearance and in my opinion, everyone is beautiful just for who and what they are."  
  
I marched out of Bulma's room and into my own, tears streaking down my face. Collapsing onto my bed, I stared at the ceiling, weeping silently to myself.  
  
I remembered the shopping trip I took with Bulma before I even met Uub. I remembered standing in that dressing room and staring at the girl in the mirror's reflection.  
  
Vegeta, Bulma, Trunks and I were all very good looking. Not meaning to sound vain, but even I had to admit it to myself. Bulma had been the most popular girl in high school; Trunks WAS the most popular boy in high school; if Vegeta had gone to high school, he would be popular too.  
  
Why? Simply because they were all good looking. I had been reasonably popular back when I was in the lower form because I was pretty. But when the others discovered my intelligence they wanted no more to do with me.  
  
When I auditioned for that drama production of the wizard of oz, I was chosen not just because I was a great actor, but also because I was prettier than Eliza. She envied me; I was beautiful and, let's face it, she isn't.  
  
The reason for all my triumphs and suffering so far has been my outward appearance. It was why I had once been popular, why Eliza hated me, why I got the lead roll in nearly every single school production.  
  
And now Bulma thought that Uub couldn't be my boyfriend because he was ugly. Well, that just shows that most of our society today is shallow. How could she even think of putting him down like that; just because he wasn't as handsome as Vegeta or Trunks.  
  
I knew the real Uub. Sure, he was a little irritating at times, but he was my friend. No, my best friend....my boyfriend....my soul mate.  
  
I sat up as realization dawned upon me. I stared at my reflection in the darkened room, my arms and legs trembling, coming to a powerful resolution that would forever change my life.  
  
I, Bra Bulma Briefs, had somehow managed to fall in love. 


	11. The properties of kissing

A/N: In response to one of my reviewers, yeah I know I do write a lot of fluff. Truth be told I am a little romance-abscessed as most 13 year old girls are. I'll try to make things a little more 'un'flulffy' but I am not making any promises. If you have seen my other stories, you'll know what I mean.  
  
Also, in regards to another reviewer, sorry but I have always described Vegeta as tall in pretty much all my stories even if that isn't technically true to the show. I'll try not to in future stories or chapters. Thanks for the advice.  
  
.:.  
  
"BRA!" Bulma hollered, banging viciously on my bedroom door. "School starts in half an hour!"  
  
"Can't go." I groaned, trying my best to sound intolerably ill. "Sever migraine."  
  
"Don't make me come in there." Bulma bellowed, wrapping on my door once again.  
  
I would have liked to reply with a witty remark yet I reminded myself that if I was going to get away with pretending to be sick, I would have to spend the morning acting dull witted. In other words, I make to rid my brain of all valuable information long enough to make my mother believe me. And in my case, it was a very hard thing to do.  
  
"Look, Bra." Bulma sighed heavily through the door. "You were right. I was the one being an idiot last night and I wouldn't care if you choose Uub as your boyfriend over Orlando Bloom. But...I would prefer it if you DID choose Orlando, mind you."  
  
I decided it was wise not to answer Bulma. I pulled my blankets over my face and concentrated on trying to make myself appear a fowl shade of green by brining up revolting images in my mind.  
  
_A child with a severed hand..._  
  
"Bra?" Bulma asked timidly, creaking my bedroom door wide open. "You better get up, sweetheart. You only have five minutes to get yourself to school."  
  
_Josh (the football player with a peanut sized brain) in spandex..._  
  
Bulma prodded me sharply. "No more kidding around. If you don't get up now, you'll miss first period."  
  
_Ice cream and tomato sauce for breakfast..._  
  
"Do you really want to spend the whole day at home with your father?"  
  
_That was a good one. Bulma and Vegeta making out..._  
  
Gosh, I was nearly believing myself. At this stage, I had to consider my sanity in actually being able to think of those disgusting imagines currently revolving around my brain.  
  
"I'm warning you, Bra!"  
  
_Eliza kissing Trunks..._  
  
Bulma ripped the covers over my head just as I lunched forward and barfed all over her brand new, pink satin shirt and hipster jeans. Casting me a look of pure disgust, Bulma shrieked and jumped off my bed, only to immediately return to my side and wrap her arms around me in a hug.  
  
"Oh you really aren't feeling good, are you? I should have known, you wouldn't miss school for any other reason." Bulma patted my messy teal hair with long, pale, manicured fingers. "Don't worry, you just stay right there and I'll be back in a moment."  
  
Bulma shut the door behind her as she left my room. I scrambled out of my bed and staggered to the nearest bathroom, glancing briefly at my reflection and becoming startled at the skinny, white faced girl with dull cast eyes who stared back at me. Perhaps I really had been feeling sick this morning after all.  
  
By the time I emerged from the bathroom after taking a long shower, Bulma had already left for work but not before remaking my bed. My stomach still feel upset so I pushed any thoughts of a decent meal from my mind and concentrated on yesterday's homework that I had somehow managed to neglect.  
  
At least I had bought myself a whole day before I had to face Uub. The whole concept of having a crush was absurd, yet when I considered the facts, it seemed completely plausible. Sure, there wasn't much I admired him for besides his memory capacity. I definitely didn't like him for his looks. But I had proven to Bulma and myself that looks never mattered to be when I gave her false information about my relationship with Uub.  
  
Eventually, as I completed my Geography homework on biomes and ecosystems, the idea struck me. I didn't choose to like Uub. I never wanted to like him in the first place. I supposed things just...happen. That must have been why my parents ended up together.  
  
A short while after midday, I trouped across the hall to the kitchen and tore open the fridge, raiding it for any sign of non-diet food or the vast selection of meats (I was, of cause, a strict vegetarian).  
  
"What's your problem?" Vegeta barked from across the kitchen as he approached me. "I thought you would be at school."  
  
"I didn't want to go." I replied without thinking.  
  
"Now there's a change." Vegeta smirked. "Fix me something to eat, then."  
  
"Of course, your majesty." I bent into a mock-formal bow, finally turning my back on him and continued my mass raid of the refrigerator.  
  
After a silent twenty minutes in which I slaved over a hot stove preparing the kind of food which was against all my morals and Vegeta sat at the table and grunted occasionally when I attempted conversation, we sat down to eat together and I found myself determined to ask him the question that has plagued my mind since I was a toddler.  
  
"What would you do if I came home with a boyfriend one afternoon?" I asked casually.  
  
"I'd murder him." Came Vegeta's predictable answer. I grinned, controlling the desire to burst out laughing.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I can." Vegeta scowled. "Now sod off, I'm eating."  
  
"I'm trying to discuss a highly important matter that will effect my future years." I frowned, obviously irritated. "You have Mum. So why can't I have someone?"  
  
"You're a child, that's why."  
  
"Technically, I'm an adolescent." I sighed, realizing that there was no way to get a straight answer from Vegeta's mouth. "I'm finished, at least put your plate in the sink before you go back to training relentlessly and pointlessly in yet another failed attempt to embarrass Goten's father."  
  
I left the kitchen, and a very unhappy Vegeta, in a queer mood. How could something as simple as a teenage relationship make someone feel so moody about everything?  
  
.:.  
  
I was sleeping upstairs when I heard my name called from the floor bellow and sprung to my feet to see what was going on.  
  
"There you are." Trunks rested a hand on my shoulder with a sense of carefulness that made me wary of him. "Mum tried to wake you up six times this morning. When you didn't wake up, she told me to get the bus alone and she would drive you later. But you never turned up at school. We were all really worried."  
  
I broke away from his steady, blue gaze only to see a highly depressed Goten and a solemn faced Uub standing behind him. I glanced between all three in confusion, wondering why Uub had suddenly replaced Marron for our usual afternoon résumé.  
  
"Just a bit of morning sickness." I gave them all a brave smile. "I'm perfectly alright now. And no, before anyone asks, morning sickness does not signify that I am pregnant. I had a migraine, that was all."  
  
"We didn't say that." Trunks etched away from me slowly. "Well, as long as you're ok. Come on, Goten. Let's get some food."  
  
Once Goten and Trunks were gone, I turned my attentions to Uub with a look of puzzlement, half expecting the symptoms described in famous historical love stories to begin. Luckily, yet also to my dismay, I felt no change whatsoever.  
  
"Where's Marron?" I asked quizzically. "Why are you here?"  
  
"Marron isn't coming to tutoring. I have no idea why-"  
  
I did.  
  
"-and I..."  
  
He paused, a red tinge creeping into his dark cheeks. "I...I just came to..to see if you were....you know...ok."  
  
Flattered, I gave him what I hoped counted for a decent smile. "Sorry if I certain SOMEONE gave you a hard time. I suppose I should thank you for taking valuable time just to check up on me."  
  
"Can I say something?"  
  
I groaned. I thought we were over this factor. "Yes, you hereby have my permission to speak freely to the public audience, a.k.a me."  
  
He smiled his usual faint smile though with a hint of extra confidence that I had thought would never be able to be unlocked. "I was worth to see you, I mean."  
  
An uncomfortable silence followed this statement. My eyes automatically fell to the carpeted floor as my cheeks reddened in a fashion that would appear ridiculous against my teal hair. In fact, after spending the day in sweatpants and a gym shirt with unkempt hair and smelly socks, I must have looked ridiculous altogether. Uub was wearing the same oversized black pants and red jacket he wore everyday. He appeared the way he always did.  
  
Just the way I liked him...  
  
"I better go." He finally mumbled. As he turned to leave I felt a strange sensation run through me, telling me that I wanted him to stay.  
  
"You don't have to." I said quickly. He turned back to face me with a smile.  
  
"If you don't want me to."  
  
"No," Not to my surprise, my confident tone had been replaced with a whisper. "No, I don't want you to."  
  
His smile widened. It actually widened! We managed to close the gap between us without meaning to. From memory, it would be impossible to recall who moved first.  
  
"Did you know." I tried to hold in a laugh. "That kissing is a healthy human interaction proven to boost your self-esteem and self-confidence? It can also give you intense feelings of happiness and satisfaction. It has been scientifically proven tha-"  
  
I was cut shot as I felt something move against my mouth. Taken back with startled surprise, I could scarcely believe that I was currently experiencing my first kiss. Uub's lips gave me a warm and content feeling as they pressed against my own. I had always thought that kissing would be a revolting experience, but now having experienced it for myself, I saw it wasn't awful at all. Truth be told, I found it enjoyable...  
  
I turned my brain off and fell into the moment shared between us, trying to make every second of it count. Until I remembered that Goten and Trunks were only a room away and it would be safer to brake away now.  
  
"So," I smiled. "Do you think that matched up with all scientifically proven facts?"  
  
Uub was actually smirking. And just as I had pictured, if I may change to use a small amount of teenage slang here, he was hot.  
  
"Kind of." He answered predictably.  
  
.:.  
  
Oops, sorry. I put in too much fluff again, didn't I? Well now I have this couple together the story will begin to deal more with their problems than their relationship. THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER!  
  
More shall come soon....hopefully. 


	12. The challenges of being a sister

A/N: In accordance to one of my reviewers, Kylelewin, I had been planning to make the entire Briefs family key characters to this story, unlike in 'Marron the teenage drama queen'. So their opinions and such would be included quite a bit. Yet I guess that I have been leading up to a big 'Vegeta gets pissed' scene without realizing it, so I am going to take your advice by making Vegeta VERY important to this story as it progresses. Thanks for the advice.  
  
.:.  
  
I was back at school the following day and in obvious high spirits. I could hardly wait to see Uub again, although yesterdays events were bound to bring up some confusion and awkwardness. It would be interesting to see his reaction....and even more interesting to see my reaction.  
  
Sure enough, he was standing beside my locker when I arrived at school, wearing his usual ensemble and a shy smile. It was hard for me to believe he could cope in such heavy clothing considering summer was drawing closer as the school year was beginning to come to a close.  
  
"Morning." I smiled, throwing the door of my locker open fiercely. Uub ducked only in the nick of time. "Oops, sorry about that."  
  
"You're feeling better, right?" Uub asked, a hint of red in his cheeks. "I was worried...you could still have been sick."  
  
"Yes...err...about yesterday." I leaned closer to him, whispering faintly in his ear. "I was hoping we could keep things low-key for a bit. As you may have gathered from watching the way our fellow classmates react to the announcements of new couples, things could become a little, shall we say, irritating."  
  
"Well, if you want me to." He whispered back before helping me find my books for first period.  
  
We hardly had a chance to speak with each other because of class and such. I also had to explain my absence from class to countless teachers, who had sorely missed my presence in their classroom and took joy in reminding me I wouldn't win the award for perfect attendance at the end of the year.  
  
Finally lunch arrived, and it was strangely greeted with happiness on my part. It became clear, when Uub and I made our way onto the school grounds after making a silent agreement to skip our trip to the cafeteria, that the weather was becoming hotter by the second. Everything felt humid, dry and sticky; I could hardly believe that Uub could survive in clothes meant for winter.  
  
The hot weather also meant the end of the school year, and the promise of upcoming exams! My first exams in an advanced class for my age level. I had a feeling that they would sneak in a few extra questions at the grade eleven level in all our tests just to trick us, so I was going to prepare in advance of everyone else.  
  
Uub and I sat underneath a tree and I placed a text book on my lap while he stared lazily across the grounds. I couldn't help snatching glances at him every now and then, just to remind myself that he was there and I was no longer alone. He caught me staring the fifth time I broke away from my text book and frowned.  
  
"Is something wrong?" He asked worriedly.  
  
"No," I laughed. "Just wondering if you're going to even bother studying for exams."  
  
I expected him to say something along the lines of 'If you want me to', yet he surprised me with a definite 'no'. I gaped at him, clasping a hand over my mouth.  
  
"Wow, you gave me a definite answer!" I gawked sarcastically. "But seriously, Uub. You really have to study for exams. If you fail, they'll hold you back a year. And that won't be good, trust me. The current grade nines don't look too kindly on those with an IQ above or bellow average."  
  
"I don't need to study, Bra." Uub smiled, meeting my eyes. "I remember everything we learnt this year."  
  
I raised my eyebrows. "Everything?"  
  
"Kind of." He shrugged.  
  
Feeling slightly annoyed, I turned back to my text book. I didn't doubt his memory capacity, but even Uub would find it difficult to remember everything he had learnt in the previous semester.  
  
"Fine then." I said sourly. "I'll test you. Define the word biome."  
  
"A biome is a word used to describe the way flora and fauna learn to adapt over a period of time to better suit their current environment." He quoted. I stared at him in astonishment. Had he just quoted the definition of a biome that I had said aloud to the entire class three weeks ago?  
  
"Ok, then." I hid my impressiveness carefully. "Tell me who invented the telephone, when it was invented and for what purpose."  
  
"It was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1800 for the purpose of making long distance communication easier." Yet another quote I had given him. I had to smile; he actually listened to me. For that matter, he listened very well. Perhaps he really didn't need to study.  
  
"Alright, so you can remember and quote all you have learnt this year, but you must remember that you only arrived at school halfway through the second semester. They'll put things we learnt at the beginning of the year in this test as well, not to mention a few questions at the grade eleven level. So you really do need to study more than the rest of us do."  
  
Uub pulled a face, and I had to focus all my bodily energy on stopping myself from kissing him right at that moment by reopening the textbook and turning to the front page.  
  
"Don't worry, I'll try my best to help you. It should posses a problem, since you have proven your memory capacity to be substantially high. If I read aloud to you, you should be able to mentally note it in your head, right?"  
  
"Kind of." He was making my resolution to stop myself from kissing him even harder. "But will I have time to learn it all?"  
  
"Possibly." I pondered. "Perhaps we'll have to work in some out-of-school study as well." I smirked as an idea sprung to mind. "Why don't you come home with me this Friday and we can start revising."  
  
Uub seemed to like this idea as well, for his deep eyes glowed with glee. "If you want me to."  
  
"I do want you to." I grinned as the school bell rang and I hurriedly gathered my things. "Come on, then."  
  
.:.  
  
"Have you ever thought about changing your name?" Asked Lucas as he and Uub followed me back towards the locker room at the end of the day. "What about being called Brianna instead of Bra?"  
  
"My mother choose to curse me with a revoltingly uncouth name yet I have grown up under this term and therefore I have decided to live by it." I answered. "What bothers me is what force possessed her to name me Bra in the first place."  
  
"I don't really want to think about that." Lucas laughed. "I suppose I'll see the two of you at school tomorrow, then?"  
  
"Ado, Lucas." I waved as he departed for his own locker room. Uub trailed behind me, keeping at my heels like a puppy.  
  
"No need to come with me today, Uub. Get your own things and meet me outside the school."  
  
I had predicted Eliza, Anna and Mez to arrive later than us, although I had to admit I was surprised when they didn't arrive at all. I actually managed to have my bag packed before they had even arrived.  
  
I didn't take the time to ponder this, instead seeing it as an opportunity to arrive home early. I hurried out of the building and met Uub, who was waiting patiently in the front entrance.  
  
"Strange." I mumbled. "Eliza, Anna and Mez weren't even present in the locker room at all..."  
  
"Trunks, Goten and Marron have already left." Uub sighed. "Sorry, I told them you would take a while so they took the next bus."  
  
"Like I care." I scowled. "It may appear that I desperately cling to my elder brother, yet it is simply a charade to stop me from being an outcast. But I'm not anymore...am I?"  
  
"Well....kind of." He moved towards me; and that was all I could recall before he kissed me for the second time in two days. We broke away moments later, both (especially me) feeling dazed and dreamy.  
  
"Make sure you come on Friday, alright?" I almost begged, before realizing how desperate and teenage-like I sounded and changed my tone. "For your own benefit."  
  
"Oh I will, don't worry." He winked (Wow...he winked!) and then departed in the direction of his village, leaving me to fly home myself, still with an odd feeling lingering in my stomach.  
  
.:.  
  
"BRA!" Trunks screamed only moments after I stepped into my house. "GET YOUR BUT IN HERE!"  
  
"What's your problem?" I scowled, reaching his bedroom and tearing the door open. He was sitting beside his computer, his schoolbag resting beside him. "Wow, didn't even have time to get some food, huh?"  
  
"I need your help." He gestured to the computer. "Do you understand this damn math algebra?"  
  
I peered over his shoulder to read the calculations he had typed up on his computer calculator. "Well, it's the sum of pie times 'x' and dived by double 7.2." I concluded. "Not the sum of pie times 'x' and double 7.2. You missed out on the division."  
  
"Do I need to rephrase the question?" Trunks shouted. "WHAT....IS...THE....ANSWER!?"  
  
"You won't learn if I tell you." I moved away. "Work it out yourself, ok?"  
  
"Fine, I will!" He focused intently on the computer screen and I yawned, stretching out my arms as I left his room.  
  
"By the way, Uub is coming over this Friday afternoon. Make sure you tell Mum when she comes home, ok?"  
  
"You can..." Trunks muttered distantly while scribbling on a piece of paper. "I'll still be hear at midnight trying to figure this out."  
  
I gave him a sympathetic look. My poor elder brother did have a ton of pressure resting on his head with Bulma and my grandfather constantly reminding him he needed to be ready to take over the company when the time came and Vegeta shooting him curt remarks about his lack of training whenever the opportunity arose.  
  
But if he didn't learn himself, he wouldn't be able to pass anyway. So I was doing him a favor...at least I thought I was....  
  
Being a little sister is tougher than it may seem. 


	13. A father's anger and a brother's comfort

A/N: Sorry it has taken me so long to update this story. Actually....err....I am ashamed to say this but I am slowly becoming less interested in anime and DragonBall Z due to my renewed love for an all time favorite movie (The Matrix). Again, I apologize for the long wait and I hope these two chapters make up for it.

.:.

Friday arrived with much anticipation on my behalf. I actually attempted to look nice this morning, then realized that looking nice _really _wasn't my style and settled for a loose pair of jeans and a plain white shirt with the knowledge that Uub wouldn't dress up much either lingering in my mind.

Sure enough, he met me at school in his usual attire, but appearing slightly flushed. I gave him a look that proved the questioned did not need to be voiced, and his lips formed a smile before he stated:

"It's really hot here, isn't it?"

A groaned in aggravation, raising my eyebrows slightly. "The heat would be more bearable if you wear something more suited to the climate."

"I don't really have any clothes for warm weather. I live in a cold area, you see." Uub shrugged as I raided my locker for the books I would need in first period.

"So what do you plan to do once you leave school, Uub?" I asked him casually.

"Goku is training me to be a fighter, like he is." Uub replied promptly, as we made our way to our first class.

It seemed a waste that he should become a fighter when he was considerably intelligent given an education, but I decided not to pressure him, seeing as I had heard that he was meant to take Goku's place as earth's number one fighter in future years.

"What about you?" Uub questioned.

I took a while to consider this, honestly unsure of how to answer him. "Truth be told, I haven't decided yet. I want to do something worthwhile....something that will help make the earth a better place to live. I'm thinking of getting some sort of degree in science."

"You won't be able to study science if you don't pass the class first, so let's get going, ok?" Uub suggested.

It took me a while to realize he had actually SUGGESTED something of his own accord! This proved only one thing; he was slowly gaining more confidence. I beamed, leading him into the science classrooms and taking a seat towards the front, beside him.

"So," I whispered before the teacher began the lesson. "You're still coming this afternoon, right?"

"If you want me to." Uub whispered back with an almost-smirk. I fond it hard to suppress a grin throughout the lesson. It seemed he was taking my advice in smiling more frequently.

.:.

The afternoon arrived blissfully, with the sun still towering in the clear blue sky and a delightful summer breeze wafting across the school grounds. Wanting to arrive home as quickly as possible, I sped to the locker room and stuffed my things into my bag hurriedly, Uub following my lead.

Unfortunately, I rounded and barged into Mez on my way out of the locker room. Smirking evilly, she took several steps forward and backed into the locker room, keeping a firm eye contact with her. Glancing behind her, I found it hard to believe she was not accompanied by Anna and Eliza. Highly unusual, since Mez hardly left the sides of her so called 'friends'.

"Good afternoon, Mez." I simpered in a mock-polite tone. "I see you have arrived unaccompanied. Would you mind informing me of the current location of your peers?"

"Shut your hole, Bra." Mez said menacingly. "Before I put you in one."

"Feeling a bit feisty today, are we?" I joked. "It seems that I can decipher from presented evidence that Eliza and Anna have finally tired of you and moved on, have they?"

"What did I tell you?" Mez cried in an unusually high voice. I found this surprising, even if her obviously bad mood and lack of friends pointed to the one simple conclusion. Yet I had not expected this reaction to arise.

"If you came here simply hoping to release your anger and feel better about yourself, then you have both chosen the wrong place and wrong method to use this for." I said carefully, slightly anxious of provoking her into a nervous breakdown.

"Shut the hell up!" Mez bellowed, advancing on me quickly. I scooted aside, causing Mez's fist to collide with a wall. She stepped back in surprise, clutching her throbbing hand. I gaped, seeing tears form in her eyes. This hadn't been the first time her hand as met with the wall, but it was the first time tears had prickled in her eyes.

"Listen, Mez." I sighed, moving towards her timidly. To my surprise, she didn't attempt to hit me again, but let the tears spill down the sides of her cheeks. "Eliza and Anna are the ones who will suffer from the loss of your friendship. People who judge you for your outward appearance are not worth relating to. Just think about that....and try to have a good weekend, ok?"

I edged away from her, feeling slightly output and guiltily for leaving her behind in tears. Having known Mez since I arrived at school, I have always seen her as a tough figure who wasn't prone to human emotions, the sort of person the younger students in my previous form would fear. Like seeing a great warrior head figure break into tears at your feet, it was a daunting experience.

"Is something wrong?" Uub questioned, worry evident in his voice. I grinned sadly, he could actually tell when something was wrong.

"Mez." I answered simply. "She came into the locker room unaccompanied and then started weeping right before me. It was a slightly nerve-wreaking experience."

"I can imagine." Uub replied, glancing over my shoulder as if expecting a tear-faced Mez to appear out of nowhere.

"We've missed the early bus." I sighed, raising my wristwatch as we made our way to the bus stop. "But the next bus to Capsule City will be here soon enough. We shouldn't get home too late. Did you bring books to study?"

Uub didn't reply, simply opening his bag to reveal a pile of books I would consider a decent amount but most would think an unreasonable overload. The bus arrived shortly and we climbed on board, Uub shifting uncomfortably as the engine revved and the bus trundled towards Capsule City.

"You're alright?" I questioned worriedly, sensing his nervousness. Uub gave me a weak smile, moving into a seat on the bus and dragging his bag after him. I climbed into the seat beside him, remembering this was his first time on public transport, and watched him intently, attempting to appear comforting.

When we finally arrived at the usual bus stop, we clambered out of the bus and I led my companion down the pavement towards Capsule corp. Halfway through the silent walk, Uub did something rather shockingly surprising. He took my hand in his.

I never believed Uub to be the sort to hold hands, but sure enough, his own sweaty palm clasped my own hand and his fingers interlaced with my own. Not daring to glance into his eyes (in case I broke his confidence) I only grasped his hand tightly and led him after me around a corner, reminding myself this was not the first time I had held his hand. Although, it was the first time we had held hands as a couple.....

"Here's my house." I jerked my head upwards to Capsule corp. as we paused in front of the familiar site. Finally meeting Uub's gaze, I noticed his commonly calm and restful brown eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

"You live here?" He asked in awe, his eyes shifting to the large complex before him.

"Most of it is dedicated to my family's business, but overall, yes. This is where I live." I grinned, enjoying the disbelief lingering on his tanned face. "Come on, then. No doubt you're as hungry as I am."

Of course, being a half-Sayian, I consumed the greatest amount of food when we arrived in the kitchen. Uub sat innocently on a kitchen stool as I loaded food in front of him and we ate in silence, mostly because my Sayian appetite proved it physically impossible to speak at the same time.

"Shall I give you a tour?" I asked after cleaning away our plates clumsily, still bubbling with excitement for even having him in my kitchen (even if it wasn't for the first time). "I couldn't give you the grand tour, it would take far too long and we need to study."

"Bulma showed me around before." Uub shrugged. "We can just start studying if you want to."

I was feeling slightly annoyed with my mother. Part of me had been awaiting the moment where I could show him the house properly. After forcing myself to remember that I was, yet again, acting the part of the common teenager to perfection, I nodded and led Uub upstairs and in the direction of my bedroom.

I had not originally planned to spend any time in my room, but my hand automatically moved to the door handle when I passed the well-known door out of habit. Twisting the doorknob open and wishing I had bothered to clean up a little that morning, I dumped my bag on the bed and raided it for homework which I set out on the desk.

"So," I said, turning to face him. "Let's start with basic homework, shall we? Then we'll move onto some revision. Sound good?"

"Kind of." Uub mumbled, his cheeks reddening as he stood in the center of the room, uncertain of what he was meant to do. Trying to con him into loosening up a little, I took his hand and led him to my desk, clearing a space for him to spread out his own things.

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" I said jokingly, not expecting him to reply. Strangely, he smiled, gripping my hand tightly.

I knew what he was planning to do a split second before he closed in on me, judging by the playfulness reflecting in his eyes (Uub....Playful!). His lips closed in around my own, his arm slipping automatically behind my back. The tip of his hair tickled my forehead and I almost stepped on his feet, pushing every rational thought from my mind as he finally moved away.

"Well..." I trailed off as his eyes locked on my own, giving an impression of anxiousness and uncertainty. "We could do that instead."

Regaining his confidence, he kissed me again and I felt a shiver trace down my back as he deepened it. Moving against his lips, I barely heard the door click open and hardly noticed another's presence until a sharp voice called my name. Breaking away quickly, I registered the presence of my very flushed older brother and an incredibly angry Vegeta.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" He bellowed, his temple throbbing with anger and his entire body shaking with fury as he advanced on the two of us. I felt my cheeks redden and, glancing sideways, saw Uub's face mimicking my own.

"We were...." I stuttered, unsure of how to end my explanation.

"Well, I think it's pretty self explanatory." Trunks shrugged from the door, wiping sweat from his training clothes and leaning against my doorframe in interest. After giving him a scathing look, I faced Vegeta head on and attempted a smile to hide my embarrassment.

"YOU!" Vegeta's eyes fixed on Uub's. "IF I EVER CATCH YOU WITH MY DAUGHTER AGAIN, YOU'LL HAVE ME TO DEAL WITH!"

My embarrassment was instantly replaced with bitter anger as I slipped my hand into Uub's, clutching his fingers comfortingly. Rage seeped through my body and words better not mentioned pushed against my lips. How dare my father march in here and tell me what I can and cannot do? What right did he have to stop us? We were only kissing after all! If Trunks was allowed to kiss, surely I was to!

"Something seems to be amiss here, father." I scathed, biting back unpleasant words. "It seems perfectly alright for all the men in this household to have an intimate relationship, and yet the women cannot? I've seen Trunks kissing thousands of girls in the past. Why can't I kiss a boy?"

My facts were definitely not true. Trunks was not the kissing sort, despite the fact that many women would love to. It seemed Trunks had registered this as well, but said nothing, watching the scene with worry evident in his clouded blue eyes.

"BECAUSE YOU CAN'T!" Vegeta shouted, pushing me to the side with a sweep of the hand and moving to Uub again. "GET OUT OF HERE! AND IF I EVER CATCH YOU AGAIN, YOU WON'T LIVE TO WALK OUT OF THIS HOUSE AGAIN, YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Uub could scarcely nod, his head frozen in fear from the sheer appearance of my father. He hurriedly gathered his things and left the room, his face burning and hands shaking with embarrassment and fear. I watched him leave, without so much as a glance at me. Seeing the rage in my father's eyes, I knew only one thing could be determined: Vegeta had scared Uub away. Would he want to be with me now Vegeta had chased him away? Would I ever feel the warmth and comfort of his presence again?

Tears gathered behind my eyes and spilled down my cheeks until I could no longer control them and I erupted in gasping sobs. Feeling Vegeta's eyes on me, I turned to face him and saw the sympathy behind his tough exterior, the mask he a built around him to keep true emotions from showing had apparently not effected his eyes.

"Congratulations," I whispered through sobs. "You've scared him off. Uub will never love me again, let alone befriend me. Looks like it's back to being a friendless loser again, huh? It seems I've lost my last chance for ever having anyone in my life."

"Bra..." Vegeta began, but his voice trailed into nothing as he hurriedly retreated from the room, Trunks moving aside to let him exit.

Once he was gone, Trunks moved towards me, wrapping firm arms around me and pulling me into a strong hug. With little strength to object, I moved against his sweaty body and let my tears fall onto his training clothes as he held me, planting a gentle kiss on top of my head.

"He's just pissed because I kicked his ass when we were training." Trunks whispered into my hair. A brief laugh escaped my lips, mingled with tears as he only tightened his hold around me.

"You don't know what it's like, Trunks." I wept, letting the words come from inside of me without thinking of them in depth (something highly unusual for me). "I don't have a friend in the world. Sure, there's you and Goten, but you aren't real friends. Then I found Uub, someone I could talk to and who actually listened to me when I was explaining it enough to quote an entire sentence I had told him a week ago. Now Dad's chased him off...."

"Bra," Trunks broke the hug, holding me at arm's width. "You'll always have Goten, Marron and I as friends. And if I'm not mistaken, that Lucas guy has a bit of a thing for you." He paused while a soft laugh left my lips. "And Uub won't be scared off by Dad, if he does love you. Something stupid like that can't break love, understand? Look, I'll bet you both my laptops that Uub will be kissing you again come Monday, ok?"

"My gosh, Trunks." I smiled faintly while wiping tears from my cheeks. "You might not be intelligent, but you certainly understand social interaction."

"The burden of being popular." Trunks shrugged, handing me a tissue and moving back to his door. "Well I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Why don't we get something to eat?"

"Sure." I said while dabbing my eyes and following my older brother out of my room to what would most likely become a better night than expected.


	14. Finding the truth about others

When I arrived at school the following Monday, Uub was waiting patiently beside my locker, looking slightly embarrassed but somehow managing to uphold his composure long enough to bid me a cheery hello, something I simply couldn't muster until I gave him a proper apology.

"Uub, about Vegeta," I mumbled, feeling the skin on the back of my neck burn hot and sweat drip down my forehead. "I'm really sorry. Usually, we get along well and I find him the easiest to talk with out of the lot of them. But overall, what he did on Friday was inexcusable and I apologize on his behalf."

I had been staring intently at anything other than the person I was directing my speech to, yet another out of the ordinary action I had per taken since I had met Uub. Standing beside me now, I felt his breath on my neck until I turned reluctantly to meet his eyes, watching me with concern.

"Bra," Uub whispered in a voice so low only I would be able to hear. "Don't feel like you have to take the blame for what happened. You didn't do anything initially-"

"You copied that word from me." I interrupted, smirking. He smiled in reply, helping me to dig through the mess in my locker to find my history book.

"Just making sure..." He trailed off briefly before finding the right choice of words. "We're still going to....I mean....we'll."

"That was the general idea." I grinned, slamming the locker door shut with force, causing several bystanders to spring back in alarm. "Let's get to class, shall we?"

Feeling as if an unbearable weight had been removed from my back, I let Uub lead me for a change, out of the locker room and down the corridor.

.:.

Despite what had happened last Friday, I still wasn't prepared for the shock I received upon entering a classroom and finding Mez sitting as far away as possible from Anna and Eliza. It seemed I was not the only one to notice this, because the entire class continued to steal glances at all three of my prosecutors throughout the lesson.

The same thing happened in every class for what remained of the day, and gradually most came to accept it, though none dared ask Mez the reason for her isolation. While some tried to provoke and answer from Eliza and Anna only to fail, most proceeded with the rest of the day acting as if nothing was unusual. However, I decided not to follow suit and set off searching for Mez as soon as school ended.

A sneaking suspicion told me that she was not going to be waiting for me in the locker room. Even so, I checked there as well as everywhere else for her, finally stumbling upon Mez in the girl's bathroom doing absolutely nothing. Simply standing idoly in the middle of the bathroom and giving an impression of derangement.

"Mez." I nodded to her in greeting, acting as if I had suspected to meet with her there.

"If you want to ask about Eliza and Anna, I'm not going to tell you." She scowled. "So save your breath."

"Oh I wasn't going to ask anything." I said, attempting to hide the smile forming on my lips. "I'm just in here to wash my hands."

I proceeded to the nearest bathroom sink and twisted the tap on, draping my hands under the cool waters. I spied Mez eyeing me in the bathroom mirror's reflection, a look of both aggravation and mingled curiosity. It didn't take long for her to break down and start babbling.

"They're on drugs." Mez suddenly stated, taking me by surprise. Eliza and Anna on drugs? That wasn't possible! I knew Eliza wasn't the perfect role model student but it seemed she'd taken things a step too far. I scarcely worried about Anna, she had probably been copying Eliza as she always did. What I really did need to ponder on was what would posses Eliza to do something like that to herself.

"How long?" I questioned, focusing on washing my hands in the hopes that she would give me more information. I wasn't let down, because soon after, the information poured from her lips like rain from a cloud.

"Only about a month. Eliza's always been rebellious, that's what makes her popular. But she took things a step too far when she started on pot. Anna only copied her, she clings to Eliza so desperately in order to keep up in the social ladder. They both tried to persuade me into taking it also, but when I said no, we started fighting. I told my parents and they said I wasn't allowed to have anything to do with Eliza or Anna anymore. That's when they started to get really pissed off and...."

"That's when you broke friendship, isn't it? Only this Friday?" I said, turning to face her completely and rejecting the bathroom sink. I only needed a curt nod from Mez to justify this, thoughts spinning through my mind. So this was why they hadn't been late to all our usual 'afternoon meetings'.....

"I don't know what to do. They're my friends, so I want to help them. But they'll just get angry if I do. You're smart, Bra. Tell me what I can do." Mez almost pleaded. It was odd to have someone with a reputation like Mez's to plead with me. In all my life, I never pictured myself standing here and having this conversation with my long-time enemy.

"There really isn't anything you can do, Mez." I sighed after regaining my confidence and leaning against the bathroom counter. "It isn't your problem, it's theirs. If I were you, I'd report them because it isn't just about your friendship, it's about the lives of others. Once they have help, things will start getting better and then they'll realize they were wrong."

"Are you always such a smart-ass?" Mez asked sadly, holding back the tears that were obviously stinging her eyes.

"It's a burden I carry with me everyday." I grinned.

"She's jealous of you, you know." Mez said darkly. "Eliza, I mean. It isn't just about some stupid play back in grade 7, it's about you in general. I've been Eliza's friend for some time now and I know that her parents are strict when it comes to marks and schoolwork. If she get bellow the average on any test, she is banned from social activity and she falls down on the social ladder. She has always wished she could be smart enough to have the grades and still have a social life. That's why she hates you so much, Bra."

"Perhaps I'm not so intelligent." I shrugged. "I always thought she hated me because of the drama production."

"Not exactly." Mez said through a faint laugh. "Eliza's having a few issues, that also helped her to make a choice when it came to drugs. It's much simpler for Anna, she just wants to do whatever Eliza does. And I just didn't know what to do, I felt so lost and alone...."

"The sooner you let Eliza's parents know, the better." I suggested, thinking aloud. "They'll realize that they've been putting too much pressure on Eliza and perhaps they'll loosen the load a little. Anna's parents will find out eventually anyway, and no doubt she'll stop once Eliza does so there isn't any problem there. That's all I can say for now, after that, you'll just have to let nature take it's coarse and see if they're as forgiving as they seem to be."

"I'll keep that in mind." Mez smirked. "Now let's get out of here, ok?"

.:.

After our meeting in the bathroom, Mez and I became instant friends. Having abandoned Eliza and Anna, she sat next to Uub and I during classes and eventually, Lucas attached himself to our 'friendship group'. It amazed me that I had grown from being an irritating attachment to my brother's group to having my own made out of people I wouldn't have expected to ever befriend.

Mez and I found we had plenty in common like our interest in fighting even if hers was stronger than my own. We also disagreed on plenty of things as well, such as the value of schoolwork and tests and frequent arguments made our friendship much more interesting.

I found out more and more about Mez as time went on. She even shared the secret of her real name with me at one stage after I swore never to repeat it and risk damaging her reputation. I must admit that I received the biggest shock of my life when Mez, (Someone well-known for a reputation as a "bad-ass") told me her real name was actually Maryellen Zoë, thus forming the nickname from her initials.

In a few short weeks, I had grown to know Mez better than I had ever thought I would or could know a person. What interested me the most was that if I had bothered to speak with her towards the beginning of the year when I faced isolation, I could have prevented an entire year of bitter loneliness.

Mez, Lucas, Uub and I had taken to spending lunchtime in the library doing nothing in particular other than sitting and engaging in conversation. Somehow, during one of these frequent meetings, Lucas brought up a topic I had completely forgotten about.

"So the school dance is at the end of the week." Lucas shrugged, flopping down at the table beside the rest of us. "I guess you're going with Uub, Bra?"

I gave Uub a sideways glance, meeting his eyes and shooting him a quick smile. "We planned to go originally only to irritate Eliza, but since that idea seems irrelevant now, I don't see why we should go anyway."

"They aren't as terrible as you think, Bra." Mez said, pausing halfway through her sandwich. "I've been dragged to a few over the years by Eliza and Anna and it isn't all just dancing and flirting."

"What else can you do then?" I asked, the question dripping with sarcasm.

"Well....you can eat as well." Lucas mumbled so quietly that we had to lean in to hear him properly. "And you can just stand to the side and watch other people dance. If you're feeling a bit game, you could even try bobbing up and down a bit."

After regaining from a laughing fit, I decided. "Why don't we go together anyway? I see no harm in pointless teenage social activity. And since we're teenagers now and won't be after several more years, we may as well make the most of our time while we have it."

"As long as I don't have to wear a dress." Mez protested and I failed to argue. The image of her in a dress didn't quite fit into reality.

"You can turn up with a garbage bag tapped around your but for all I care." I said truthfully. "Just as long as you do turn up."

While Mez and Lucas discussed ways to make themselves look hideous, Uub silently edged towards me and whispered quietly into my ear.

"So, we'll go after all, then?"

"Looks like it." I answered. "Just promise me you'll wear that outfit, ok?"

Uub looked briefly to his usual attire of baggy black pants and an oversized red jacket before replying. "What else?"

.:.

"What are you wearing to the dance, Bra?" Bulma asked excitedly as we finished washing up after dinner.

"Well," I placed a finger to my temple in mockery. "I was thinking along the lines of a giant garbage bag tapped around my but."

Bulma shot me a disjoined look, choosing to pretend she hadn't heard this comment. "What about the outfit I bought you for Trunks' birthday party? I know everyone's seen that already but it saves you a trip to the shopping mall."

"If so, then I'm all for it." I said brightly, glad Bulma wasn't planning to drag me through the torture zone anytime soon.

Vegeta breezed into the room loudly, causing both Bulma and I to brake away from conversation and watch silently as he moved to the fridge, found himself a drink and then left the kitchen as quickly as possible. I wasn't surprised when he didn't even register my presence because we had been avoiding each other since the day he ordered Uub out of the house. And frankly, I was silently thankful for this.

"Why doesn't Dad like the idea of me having a relationship with anyone closer than as family or as friends?" I asked, hopefully casually.

Bulma raised an eyebrow to the question, but replied nevertheless. "Your father didn't really have an ideal childhood, Bra, despite the fact he was a prince. No doubt you've been taught about your Sayian heritage?" I nodded before she continued. "Well, he spent most of his teenage years on a ship working for the monster that destroyed his people. All parents want their children to have a better life than what they had, and even if he won't admit it, Vegeta feels the same way about you. He's going to do everything in his power to ensure that your childhood is a perfect one. He just cares about you, Bra, that's all."

"You still haven't answered my question." I frowned. "Why won't he let me have a boyfriend?"

"He was a teenage boy himself at one stage." Bulma sighed, gazing out the kitchen window. "Hard to believe, isn't it? He must have been one cute teenager as well." Catching the disturbed look upon my face, she added hurriedly. "From knowing what teenage boys are like, and coming back to what I said earlier, he thinks that it's best if you keep away from members of the opposite sex for now. He's just doing what he thinks is best for you, Bra."

"Could it also be from previous experience?" I wondered, adding to what Bulma had already told me. "You told me once that Trunks was an accident, wasn't he?"

Bulma nodded. "I never expected to have Trunks and neither did Vegeta. He left earth in order to train to fight the androids away from 'distractions' not realizing he was leaving me behind with his child. When he came back, he must have realized what he did effected me greatly. Even if he won't admit it, he loves me, you and Trunks very much and probably regrets leaving me alone here to have his child while he trained on a distant planet. So maybe you're right and he doesn't want you to turn out like me. Although, having Trunks was the best thing that ever happened to me, other than having you. Now has that answered your question?"

"A detailed enough explanation." I said, drying my hands. "I'm going to bed, night."

I ventured upstairs, still lost in deep thought.

A/N: Again, I apologize for the long wait and hope these two chapters make up for it. Thanks for reading and please review!


	15. The dance

A/N: Again, I have been taking my time to update because I have had the flu. But now I'm feeling better, I can continue to update quickly. So here is the next chapter.

Oh, and I don't own Dissolved girl by Massive attack either.

The night of the dance was one I would remember for the rest of my life. Most likely because it started off on a very strange level when Marron called. Trunks answered the phone and I stood nearby, listening to the conversation with interest before he dropped the phone again.

"What was all that about?" I questioned from the doorframe.

"Marron's not going to the dance with me anymore." Trunks said with a shrug. "She's going to visit Goten."

"Goten?" I asked aloud in disbelief.. "What....why?"

"Because she's in love with him." Trunks grinned. "At least that's what she said. So it looks like I'm going to be a serious loner tonight."

"You have to be kidding me." I said, changing to a high-pitched imitation of 'the common teenager'. "With the attire you have selected for tonight, I doubt that you'll be left alone for long."

To my pure disgust, Trunks had decided he wanted to expose as much skin as possible in the area above his waist, wearing a black, close fitting tank top that would have better suited a session of combat training with Vegeta. To accompany this, he had chosen a pair of black jeans and left his hair looking disheveled. It amazed me that some girls would think that Trunks looked most attractive when he decided to turn up to a social event looking as if he had only just woken up.

Some may have thought that, in the outfit I had worn to my brother's birthday party, I looked attractive. I would prefer to say I looked decent, this time choosing to style my hair up instead of simply having it out and cascading down my shoulders and wearing less makeup than before much to Bulma's protest.

"You both look so...._beautiful_!" Bulma cried shrilly as she snapped a few photos of my brother and I while Vegeta watched in obvious boredom. "Now, Trunks has already told me Marron isn't coming. Bra, does Uub have a way to get to the dance?"

At this comment, Vegeta rose his head and unfolded his arms, giving my mother and I an equally stern look. Bulma smiled sweetly upon her husband, mouthing _we'll talk later _in his general direction.

"No. Uub and I planned to meet at the school." I said in a voice of irritable uncertainty, remembering that Bulma had promised not to bring Uub up with Vegeta and wondering what he planned to do about it. "So we can go whenever you're ready, Mum."

"Ok then!" Bulma cried happily, snatching up her car keys. "I'll be back in a while, Vegeta."

Vegeta only grunted, finding his shoes much more exciting than what was going on in the room at the time. Bulma literally marched Trunks and I outside and into the back seat of a capsule car, climbing into the front seat and slamming the door behind her.

"I'm so EXCITED!" Bulma exclaimed, driving rather speedily in my opinion. "Little Bra is going on her very first DATE!"

When Bulma spoke in capitols, it often meant trouble. She slammed her foot onto the peddle and sped towards the school well above the speed limit. Not wanting to disrupt her hysterical moment and figuring the police would be able to do that for her anyway, I focused all my energy on trying not to vomit as Bulma swerved through the oncoming traffic, finally screeching to a halt outside the school.

"Do you want me to come in with you?" Bulma questioned, turning to face us in the front seat. After carefully examining Bulma in her grey tracksuit pants and faded shirt, I exchanged a glance with Trunks who's facial featured showed the same thoughts were weaving through his mind at the moment. We both firmly shook our heads.

"Have fun then!" Bulma waved us out of the car and sped away happily. Almost at once, Trunks was greeted by an oncoming car containing Josh and his date.

I backed away, moving towards the school hall where the dance was to be held, running into both Lucas and Mez on the way, who had chosen to go together. To my relief, neither had decided to wear a garbage bag tapped around their but. Instead, they both wore black leather fitted closely to their bodies, the only difference between their attires were their shirts, Mez in a tank and Lucas in a tight fitting skive.

Even if they weren't as formally dressed as me, Lucas and Mez did appear much more attractive than normal. Mez had untied the braids that held her hair in place usually and let the crinkled black strands fall down her back, the leather hiding her muscular feminine figure.

Lucas had replaced his glasses with contacts so his often unnoticed chestnut brown eyes sparkled to life in a dazzling display that I knew would capture the hearts of Marron's posy. Using large amounts of gel, he had flattened his mousy fringe over his pimpled forehead and the leather succeeded in making him much less scrawny.

"Look who decided to be elegant." Mez joked mockfully. "Why the hell did you decide to wear that?"

"Blame my mother." I scathed, following both into the hall. It was richly decorated, as it was last year and swarming with teenagers from all grades in similar outfits to my own and the atmosphere was the same to that of my brother's party.

I scanned the crowds for a familiar face, a streak out black and red caught my attention quickly, although eventually I came to realize that Uub was not yet here. Turning back to the two leather clad figures, I raised an eyebrow to ask the obvious question.

"He lives far away." Lucas comforted. "Don't worry, he said he'd turn up."

"Uub isn't the most reliable living organism on this planet." I reasoned, casting dark looks upon two older students showing obvious displays of affection. Noticing a table of food, I attempted to calm my nerves in a very Sayian-like fashion. Still uncertain by Uub's lack of presence, I hardly noticed Anna barge into me fiercely until she noticed me and tapped my shoulder.

"Where's Goten?" She asked, swishing the skirt of her salmon pink dress.

"Where's Eliza?" I questioned in reply, surprised that Anna was actually without her for once.

Anna only sighed exhaustedly in reply and stalked away through the crowd. After laughing at her back as she scurried through the crowd, I went to find Mez again.

"Maryellen Zoë," I muttered in a low voice so only she could hear, putting on my best imitation of a wealthy dowager. "What is the current location of your dear, dear friend Eliza?"

"What did I tell you about that name?" Mez scowled menacingly. Glancing into the inflamed eyes of the leather clad figure, I only pulled a face and her anger changed to sadness abruptly. "I told Eliza's parents about her drug addiction today. I haven't told Anna's but they'll find out from Eliza's parents soon enough. That's probably why she hasn't turned up yet."

"It was for their health." I said, placing a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "As I predicted before, I'm sure Eliza will tell them about her, as you said, _issues_. Her parents will stop placing so much stress on her, send her to therapy, and before too long, she'll be back to her usual, ugly, bullying self."

Mez grinned briefly before Lucas approached us and interrupted, dragging someone else with him. Uub, dressed as usual but never looking better as he smiled upon seeing me; a smile I returned freely.

"I thought you wouldn't be coming." I smirked.

"You would have murdered me if I didn't turn up." Uub mumbled faintly, but loud enough to hear over the pounding music playing from the hired DJ.

"Are we going to dance or just stand around for the next three hours?" Asked Mez, who, unlike the rest of us, was much more used to this sort of activity.

"I'd actually prefer to just stand around." Mumbled Lucas, shifting around in a slightly uncomfortable fashion.

"I wouldn't." Was Mez's only reply as she snatched her date by the arm and dragged the poor, lanky teenager onto the dance floor.

After exchanging a laugh with Uub at Lucas's terrified face as he was pulled around by Mez, I leaned against the wall with him standing close beside me, each of us unsure of what to do. Eventually, Trunks managed to pry himself away from the roaming eyes of every girl in the complex and took to my side.

"You know," He whispered to the two of us. "You may as well just go home and stare around the room aimlessly there."

"The scenery is better here." I replied sarcastically. "What could be better than spending the entire night staring aimlessly around at a adult supervised adolescent party?"

Sighing, Trunks snatched my unsuspecting hand with his own, using his other to tug Uub and literally dragged both of us into the middle of the clustered group of dancers (And those who weren't _just_ dancing). Putting our hands together, he gave me a wink and darted away before another crazed teenager jumped on him, ignoring the look of utter loathing and hatred I was casting upon him.

"What's wrong?" Uub asked as an older student barged into him, knocking him forward slightly.

"Utter loathing and hatred." I replied darkly, helping him regain his composure. "I guess we shouldn't worry about that now...."

We stood stiffly for a moment, against the others dancing without a single care for their reputation. Eventually, we realized that if we wanted to survive, we would need to move in order to avoid contact with any of the others. By the time Massive Attack's Dissolved girlwas playing, our dodging movements had somehow transformed into dancing.

I never thought I could actually enjoy modern music, which seemed to only ever infuriate me with every repetitive beat. However, I made a small exception for this song merely because it managed to fit the moment perfectly. It's lyrics will be something I remember forever....

Shame, such a shame  
I think I kind of lost myself again  
Day, yesterday  
Really should be leaving but I stay  
  
Say, say my name  
I need a little love to ease the pain  
I need a little love to ease the pain  
It's easy to remember when it came  
  
'Cause it feels like I've been  
I've been here before  
You are not my savoir  
But I still don't go  
  
Feels like something  
That I've done before  
I could fake it  
But I still want more  
  
Fade, made to fade  
Passion's overrated anyway  
Say, say my name  
I need a little love to ease the pain  
I need a little love to ease the pain  
It's easy to remember when it came  
  
'Cause it feels like I've been  
I've been here before  
You are not my savoir  
But I still don't go, oh  
  
I feel live something  
That I've done before  
I could fake it  
But I still want more, oh.

The song was the last to be played, and I found it hard to believe I was actually depressed to see the end of what had been a good night. Uub hadn't been the perfect dancing companion, the food was as terrible as ever, and the company I had been in wasn't at all desirable. So how had I been able to enjoy myself?

I knew the answer when I looked into Uub's eyes. Large, chocolate brown eyes that shimmered with life under the strong lights glittering above us. He wasn't the attractive, intelligent older boyfriend Bulma had wanted for me. He _certainly _wasn't the boyfriend Vegeta wanted me to have (Although that was mainly because Vegeta didn't want me to have a boyfriend at all). But he was all I wanted. All I ever would want....

"Bra?" Uub whispered as he followed me outside the hall after the last dance.

"Hmm?" I replied airily, staring into the face of the glossy silver moon, framed with glittering stars.

"This was almost the best night of my life." He stated, focusing on a tree across the school grounds.

"Almost?" I grinned, meeting his eyes with my own.

Nearly a second after the words left my lips, he leaned forward and locked me in a deep kiss, which I returned with the same intensity. It was our strongest kiss so far, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

"Now it is." Uub smirked, pulling away from me, his eyes glinting almost evilly.


	16. Visiting Uub

The weeks seemed to move much faster after the dance. With only four weeks of grade ten left, and two weeks until the beginning of the end of year exams, most of my time was spent (naturally) studying. Expect for a few precious moments that were spent with Uub, Lucas and Mez.

The final weekend before exams began, I planned to shut myself up in isolation and revise. However, my plans were changed almost instantly. Uub cornered me after school on Friday, his face a vibrant shade or red.

"Are you busy this weekend?" He asked, following me to the bus stop. "If you're not doing anything....I was thinking-I mean, hoping.....you might....want to.....you know...."

"For once, I do _not _know, Uub." I said through a raised eyebrow. "What are you talking about?'

"Do you.....wanttocometomyplace?" He blurted out quickly. Again I was forced to rely on my raised eyebrows to convey my confusion. "Err....I mean, you want to my place this weekend. Because, Lorna is really interested in meeting you because she wants to talk to you about telephones, and my mother wants to meet you as well-you know how mothers are. And-"

"Uub," Interrupted, struggling to contain a laugh. "I'll meet you tomorrow." It was virtually impossible to stop myself from spluttering with laughter at the look of sheer relief on his face. "It's better than complete isolation, after all. And I think I've studied enough."

"I never thought I'd hear you say that." Uub said happily, still recovering from asking me over and when I agreed.

"Just shut up and tell me where you live." I sighed, tapping my wristwatch. "I have a bus to catch."

"Oh, right. Erm....how about I pick you up tomorrow around ten?" Uub said, shifting from one foot to the other nervously.

"Suits me." I shrugged, leaning forward and pecking him on the cheek, feeling my face flush brilliant red: almost as red as his own. "See you tomorrow, then."

I met a distorted Trunks at the bus stop, his head buried in a book. This was highly unusual, considering my brother's social status. But remembering the pressure he had on his hands to get a decent grade at the moment, I decided it would be much kinder to make no comments and mentally registered the strange effect exams had on people.

"Bra, praise the gods!" Trunks cried when he saw me approach. "I'm going to need serious help studying this weekend."

"Sorry, Trunks. But you're going to have to find another study buddy. I'm spending the weekend with Uub." I replied calmly.

"But....exams!" Trunks exclaimed, gripping my shoulders and shaking them violently. "You may be the smartest person in this school, including the teachers, but even you still need to study!"

"I've done all the studying I can." I said with a shrug, causing my brother's hands to slip from my shoulders. "Now get off me, the bus is here."

As none of my friends lived in Capsule city, I caught the bus alone and sat behind Marron and Goten, who were displaying obvious signs of affection. It was now obvious that the two of them had a better night last week than anyone else had. Filled with happiness for my brother's best friend, I sunk into a state of boredom, watching Marron rest her blonde head on Goten's shoulder and thinking of what the weekend would hold for me.

Truth be told, I was more than excited about meeting Uub's family tomorrow.

I awoke the following morning to a loud pounding on my door. Without warning, Bulma burst into the room and shook me awake violently. Groaning and cursing under my breath, I sat up and let my bleary eyes focus on my mother, dressed in a pink silk kimono with her hair lying disheveled about her hair.

"Wow." I whispered hoarsely, blinking stupidly at my mother. I hadn't seen her without makeup for a long time, and was surprised to see her once elegant face was covered in faint aging wrinkles. I smirked to myself; beauty obviously wasn't eternal. Yet intelligence most definitely was.

"Why the hell did you tell Uub he could call in at ten in the morning?" Bulma cried angrily. "Didn't it occur to you that we would all still be asleep? I had to answer the door looking like this and made a total ass of myself!"

"Calm down, woman." I mumbled, pushing off my blankets and stumbling across the room to my closet and wrenching the doors open, laughing inwardly at myself. "Hey, look at me. Quoting my dear old father."

"Bra," Bulma said wearily. "Next time you arrange a date, why don't you _tell _me about it?"

"Oh, sure." I lied, pulling my favorite shirt over my head (The S.O.S-Save our solar system shirt) and slipping into a pair of jeans.

"When will you be back?" Asked Bulma, leaning against the doorframe and watching me with what appeared to be admiration.

"I'm not sure." I said truthfully. "Depends, really. Why are you staring at me like that."

"Just thinking," Bulma sighed. "Bra, I'm so glad you turned out the way you did. I can't help thinking about all the times I tried to turn you into a copy of myself and I'm so happy that you decided you didn't care about others and their opinions. You just do what you want to do and you became the woman you wanted to be. I guess I'm just....I'm so happy to see that you were so much more sensible than I was."

The words my mother said were simple, and yet they seemed to touch me deeply. Crossing the room, I wrapped my arms around her tightly and hugged her, gripping my mother's shoulders tightly and eventually pulling away from her and smiling. Bulma grinned, tucking strands of my hair behind my ear.

"Go." Bulma whispered. "Have fun."

Nodding, I hurried downstairs to see Uub waiting patiently in the front entrance. Smiling cheerily, I took his hand and kissed his cheek in greeting, causing him to blush.

In moments, we had flown into the clouds, heading towards Uub's house.

"This is where you live?" I asked, staring in awe at the sight bellow me and then at Uub, who nodded slowly.

It was nothing more than a small town, positioned on the edge of a snowy cliff. The two streets were lined with tiny hovels, surrounded by a dark and murky wood. The only other visible object was an old well resting on the outskirts of the town. I couldn't even call it a town....it was simply a cluster of homes for the unfortunate.

I read about third world countries all the time. I researched them on the internet, in books and by means of primary sources. But in reality, everything seemed much worse. The few people who exited their hovels were staring to us in confusion, their faces clouded with dirt and scarred with hard work. Their clothes were mingled and rough, without the proper fabric for the harsh weather conditions.

"My God." I whispered, feeling Uub's eyes on my neck. I turned back to him, feeling tears gather in the corners of my eyes. "Uub...I-I had no idea what it was like..."

"What are you talking about?" Uub asked with a laugh, taking my hand. "Come, I'll introduce you to my family and the other villagers."

We flew to the ground and landed in the snow with a crunch. I shivered, feeling the ice burn into my bare arms and wished I had remembered to bring a jacket. Seeing me shiver, Uub removed his own red jacket and placed it over me, revealing a short sleeved tattered grey shirt underneath.

"No, you wear it." I insisted, but Uub simply shook his head. I gave him a sympathetic look, but he merely moved away from me and joined the circle of confused villagers gathering around us.

"This is my mother." He said, addressing an incredibly skinny woman who resembled her son in every way, with the acceptation of her long cascades of black hair that fell limply down to her waist. I suddenly struck me that there was no overweight people in the village, or any who were the correct weight anyway. Uub then gestured to the shivering toddler who clung to her mother's dress, her own hair no more than a short stubble atop her head. Her eyes were wide with hunger and her teeth chattered in the cold. "And this is my baby sister, Kida."

Uub moved to three boys standing behind his mother, all identical accept in height and hairstyle. They were all stony faced and dull, with hair cut to different lengths and in different styles and dressed in mismatching winter outfits. "These are my three brothers, Thai, Saul and Garron."

Uub then continued around the circle of villagers, introducing each in turn. Overall, there was about twenty of them, all whether elderly or babies, equally starving and shivering in the winter chill. I felt my heart lurch with the introduction of each person, as if feeling their pain rebound into myself.

"And finally," Said Uub, placing his hand on the shoulder of a lanky girl with hair cut neatly on her shoulders and eyes coloured like coal stones. She dressed in a simple blue dress made of a flimsy material that had no chance of blocking out the cold. Her arms were wrapped around a dusty book, which she clutched to her chest as if it were her most sacred possession. "This is my sister, Lorna."

Lorna stepped forward, a shy smile quivering on her thin lips as her bare feet crunched in the snow. Still clutching her book, she knelt in the snow before me. Perhaps it was a form of greeting, but it only increased my pain. I felt as if the child was bowing to me as if I were her better. Just because I was rich.

"Welcome to our village, Bra." Lorna said in a mousy tone. "Your presence is more than appreciated here."

Pulling Uub's red jacket closer to my skin, I knelt and touched the child's arm, feeling the dirt and bitterness on her skin. "Stand up. The snow will be too cold on your legs."

Lorna glanced up at me in perplexity, but obeyed, scrambling to her feet with difficulty caused by the book in her arms. I noticed the front cover, printed on in faded lettering.

"A little princess?" I asked in a whisper, running my hand across the tattered cover, then meeting her eyes and again feeling shock at the starvation lingering in them. "Is it your favorite book?"

Lorna nodded enthusiastically. "I've read it so much now, I could tell you every line. It's the only book we have here, you see. And I love reading so much."

"Me too." I said with a faint smile. "Uub tells me that your pretty smart for your age."

"She is." Said her mother proudly. "Lorna is the smartest girl in the village. All she needs is a good education."

"Uub tells us you're rich." Said Garron darkly. "Is it true that you live in a castle?"

I almost laughed at the comment, but then realization swept over me. Compared to the simple homes of the people here, my house _was _a castle. I nodded, causing the crowd to chatter amongst themselves. I turned back to Lorna, tears swelling in my eyes.

"Lorna, would you like to bring more books?" I asked, sniffing.

"Oh yes!" Lorna exclaimed happily. "But, there's no way I could ever have anymore than one."

"I'll bring you some next time I visit, ok?" I said, wiping tears from my eyes.

"You're going to come back here again?" Lorna asked hopefully. "I'd really like it if you did."

"She'll come back as long as she still stays with Uub." Said Thai.

Smiling despite my tears, I gripped Uub's hand, ignoring the worry evident in his eyes for the time being, squeezing it tightly and entwining his fingers with my own.

"Then it looks like I'm going to be paying visits to you for the rest of my life." I said, smiling to Uub and then looking back into Lorna's eyes, so filled with hope and ambition.

If only there was something I could do....


	17. Vegeta's other side

A/N: Sorry it's been so long, but my mind has been focusing on other things like school...friends...family...the Matrix. Yes, I have become re-addicted to an old favorite movie of mine, so I have been going off DBZ for a bit (Shock! Horror! Disaster!) But I have a motto: I finish what I start. So I am going to finish this mini series and prove it to you by finishing off this story and putting up the first three chapters of the sequel which is called Summer Rain and focuses around Pan and Trunks. That will have been posted up by the time you've finished reading this, so check it out if you want to! But for now, read, review and (Hopefully) enjoy the last to chapters of Truth be Told!

(o)

"Is something wrong, Bra?" Asked Bulma as I plunged my hands into the warm water in the sink. "Why are you doing the washing up by hand? We have a perfectly good dishwasher you could use."

"Mum," I asked, not looking away from the soppy water sloshing about my wrists. "Do you ever feel like you're worthless? Like you can't do anything worthwhile?"

"All the time." Bulma nodded, standing beside me and leaning on the counter. "Whenever your father goes off fighting and leaves me behind. I feel guilty because I know he's doing something to help everyone on earth while I'm stuck here alone. I hate it."

"No, not like that." I shook my head. "What I meant to say was, when you see others suffering, do you ever feel terrible because you know there's nothing you can do?"

"I-I've never really thought about it." Said a bewildered Bulma. "Why do you ask, dear?"

"I visited Uub yesterday." I said with a sigh, scrubbing a plate with a wet towel. "He and his people live in hovels and are starving to death. The only reason he can go to school is because of the money he won fighting. These people literally have to fight if they want to survive. And Uub's little sister, Lorna, is a very intelligent child. But without an education....I just wish...I wish there was something I could do."

"Bra," Bulma outstretched her arms and pulled me into a hug. "Maybe there is a way to help them. We could pay to send all the village children to school. We have enough money."

"It's a start." I shrugged. "But it's not enough. These people need more than just that, Mum. They desperately need our help. And I'm not going to rest until they're living the lives they deserve."

Bulma smiled kindly, releasing me from the stiff hug. "Why don't you just try and get through high school first, ok? Don't you start end of year exams tomorrow?"

"Yeah." I grinned. "I guess I better start studying."

(o)

"You ready for exams?" Asked Mez as she caught up with me and we made our way down the school corridor. "I can't tell you how long I spent studying this weekend. I'm completely exhausted."

"What have we got first?" I asked, checking the timetable on our year group's bulletin board.

"History and math exams, then lunch, then geography and science." Mez scowled. "Hard to believe it's actually going to take a whole week to get through every single subject."

"Hmm..." I said absent mindedly, hardly focusing on anything going on around me. This was strange, considering I should be worried and fussing about the exams, yet my mind was mainly focused on what had happened the pervious weekend.

(o)

I didn't see Uub until we arrived and prepared for our first exam: history. But seeing as the teacher insisted upon us all behaving in a manner fit for a 'Test Situation' I could hardly bellow out his name across the room. Instead, I took a seat at one of the singular tables and ran some quick revision through my head whilst the teacher handed out our exam paper.

"Alright, class." The teacher instructed. "You may begin."

I turned over the page of my test paper and read the first question. Immediately, the answer sprung into my head and I hurriedly scribbled it down. Finishing in a remarkably quick amount of time, I read and reread my answers before taking the completed paper to the teacher's desk.

"Read through it again." She ordered in a voice that reminded me of a droning robot.

"I've already read through it six times!" I retorted, forgetting to lower my voice to a whisper and causing heads to jolt away from paper and focus on me instead.

"That's impossible!" The teacher exclaimed. "There's still half an hour left until the exam finishes!"

"Believe it or not, I could hardly care." I shrugged. "But I have finished and I'm ready to hand it in, and I will regardless of what you think."

With that, I pushed the paper in front of her and marched back to my desk, reaching over the side of my table to my bag and opening it to fetch a book to read. Smirking to myself as I felt several pairs of eyes still lingering on the back of my neck, I sunk into a dreary and unfocused period of relaxation.

(o)

The rest of the exams were spent in the same way as the history one. By the end of the week, I was boiling with an anxiety to receive my results. However, the teachers informed us that the results would be sent to us via email sometime during the summer holidays. Naturally, I was infuriated, but chose to see it in a good frame of mind.

At least I had something to look forward to these holidays.

The final week before the end of the year passed as a blur. With hardly any class work to do, I found myself with plenty of leisure time. Most of the teachers set us holiday homework, but nothing that was due during the week, and I spent the afternoons and lunch breaks in the library with Mez, Lucas and Uub.

"Anna phoned me last night." Said Mez brightly on the last day of school. I broke away from my chess match against Lucas to listen with interest, having not seen or heard of Anna or Eliza since Mez had told Eliza's mother about the drug scandal.

"And...?" I asked, urging her to continue.

"She called to apologize about the way she treated me, and said she was wrong to listen to Eliza." Mez scowled. "Apparently, Eliza's parents called Anna's and told them about what they'd been doing. Eliza and Anna have both been going to doctors and counseling and neither are coming back to school until next year. But Anna has been banned from spending any time with Eliza from now on. She called me to 'make friends'." Mez held her hands up in quotation marks.

"And what did you say?" I asked with a smirk.

"Well obviously she was only wanting to remake our friendship because now that she can't hang out with Eliza, she's become a complete loner. No doubt she'd want to draw me back into popularity and start copying me. So I told her to piss off."

"A bit harsh, don't you think?" Lucas said timidly, but Mez merely shook her head.

"She deserved it." I mumbled bitterly. "But Eliza deserved worse in my opinion."

I settled back into the chess game with Lucas, leaving Uub and Mez to continue the conversation. Lucas won the match easily, as I had hardly been paying attention after Mez's revolution.

So Eliza wouldn't be coming back until next year...at least she couldn't ruin the last week of grade ten. But no doubt she will return next year, with much more reason to hate me other than a simple drama production. I supposed she'd use the summer to think up more ways to make my life hell, and put these theories into practice as early as first term.

And frankly, I couldn't wait for the challenge!

(o)

"Bra! Get your ass down here!" Trunks shouted as I reached the school's front gate on the last day of school. I grinned, noticing the obvious annoyance in my elder brother's face with both my tardiness and the 'display' two of his best friends were putting on behind him. "I actually want to get home on time, for once!"

"Oh relax." I frowned. "I'll only be another minute."

I turned back to Lucas, Mez and Uub who had followed me out of the school. I hugged both Lucas and Mez, bidding them farewell for the summer holidays and promising that we would find some time to meet up. When the time came to say goodbye to Uub, I pulled him into a rib-crushing hug, clinging to his back slightly. He had shown me so much in the last six months...and I couldn't thank him enough.

"Listen, I need to thank you." Uub whispered as I reluctantly pulled away. "You've helped me so much this year. You've taught me so many things and helped me to discover the person I truly am. I guess what I'm trying to say is....it meant a lot to me."

"No, Uub." I shook my head. "You've shown me so much more."

I leaned forward and kissed him briefly on the cheek. Unlike Marron and Goten, Uub and I weren't the sort of people who liked to display affection when in sight of a crowd. Bidding him a final goodbye, I let Trunks snatch my arm and drag me onto the bus. Taking a seat beside him, I leaned out the window to wave goodbye to Uub before the bus carried me away.

(o)

I sat alone in Capsule corp.'s giant backyard with my arms wrapped around my legs, which were tucked into my chest. The step bellow me felt frozen against my thighs, despite the jeans I wore to cover them. As the sun slipped behind the surrounding houses like a rose pink eagle sinking into the distance, I recalled a time when I had done this same thing after completing my first year of high school and smiled secretly to myself.

I had never imagined that my life would have changed so much since that day.

Hearing heavy footsteps behind me, I turned with surprise to see Vegeta approach me, beads of sweat clinging to his dark hair and training outfit, his gloved hands folded across his chest and his dark eyes glinting in the fading sun.

Astoundingly, he moved aside me and lowered himself onto the step, adjusting his body into a more comfortable position. I stared at him in bewilderment until he met my gaze firmly, his eyes holding in any sense of emotion.

"You know why....why I wouldn't let you be with that Uub boy before?" Vegeta began slowly, watching me intently. I nodded curiously, wondering where this conversation would lead.

"I-I don't want you to get hurt." Vegeta continued, breaking the eye contact between us and staring into the sunset. "You are, after all, my only daughter."

"If you came here to apologize-" I started.

"No, I didn't." He interrupted savagely, revealing a flicker of the old Vegeta I had come to know and love. "The prince of all Sayians apologizes to none, even when he knows he is wrong."

"So you admit you were wrong about Uub!" I grinned triumphantly.

"I never said that." Vegeta scathed, causing me to grin yet again. This conversation was going to take a while.

The was a long and stony silence in which both my father and I sat, stewing in our own thoughts. Eventually, I decided to brake the quiet by asking him a question that had plagued my mind since I visited Uub.

"Dad, I have to ask." I began, meeting him directly in the eyes. "This planet is already polluted with disease and suffering. When you go out to fight, you literally damage our planet and its people by tearing the land apart. I must know, how can you sleep at night when you know that your battles are the cause for people's suffering?"

Vegeta exhaled softly, sadness tinting the darkness in his steady gaze. "Bra, if I don't fight, how can I protect the innocent from certain death? Although, do not think for one moment that this is why I fight."

"Some things are worse than death." I muttered in reply. The sun had almost completely set beyond the city, leaving nothing but a faded pink tinge on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. "I would rather die than live a life of poverty. I don't know how Uub can do it."

"Oh, so this is about your boyfriend then, is it?" Vegeta smirked. "I can see what an impact he's had on you."

"A _very _big impact. When I visited him, and saw his village for myself, I truly knew what the word poverty meant. The people who live there fight to survive, and still manage to uphold a smile on their faces. Everyone deserves the basic privileges of life....like food, shelter, clothing and education....I just wish....I wish there was something I can do....I feel so helpless."

The topic we discussed was most certainly a depressing one. Therefore my father succeeded in shocking me yet again when he smiled at my last comment.

"You know, Bra, I envy Kakkarot for many reasons." He said. "But I can take pride in knowing that I have one quality he seems not to possess. Humans and Sayians alike always think around their own lives, and worry about the smallest things by nature. We all do it, Bra, even I admit to it. We think only of ourselves and what is happening in our own situations. But what we need to remember is, that there is a whole universe of people out there, and really, if you think about it, we worry about the most pointless things. We shouldn't focus souly on ourselves....we are just a single individual living in a universe of troubles and despair. If we can stop thinking about us, and think about everyone else..." He trailed away, staring avidly into space. "Then we might be able to make this universe a much better place."

Without saying another word, he stood and strode back to the door and slammed it shut behind him. I sat alone on the step, blinking idiotically and attempting to recap the conversation I had just had. It was hard for me to believe that someone like Vegeta could speak words of such wisdom and power, words that struck my soul and touched me deeply.

I understood something about him that night. I understood why my mother had wanted to marry him. Vegeta wasn't the cold hearted killing machine I had always seen and admired him as. Perhaps he appeared this way to those who did not know him, but beneath his poised appearance he too, had a heart...a soul...a mind. He didn't take pride in his senseless destruction, but probably found it to his distaste as much as I did. He cared about this world....he really did. Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to speak with the passion and feeling he spoke with prior to this moment. I was lucky to have witnessed a small snapshot of what truly lay behind Vegeta's cold exterior and take a glimpse at his heart. I knew the opportunity would never arise again, but at least now I knew that hidden underneath the barrier he had built around himself, lay this compassionate warrior who I had barely had a chance to know.

Not only had Vegeta taught me about himself, but about the wider community. He was right, if we stopped thinking about ourselves and focused on others, the universe could be a better place to live. That night, I discovered my purpose in life...I knew what I had to do to help Uub and his village. I had to stop thinking about myself and what I wanted and put them before me. I had to step out of the comforts of my own home and bring them to justice.

I now had a mission in life. And even though the sun had long since set beyond the city, the sky had never looked so bright.


	18. If you want me to

Things changed so much after that night. Not only in myself, but in everyone around me. For it seemed that my new resolutions effected everyone, mainly Uub's village.

As promised, Bulma used her wealth to send all the village children to school. This was hardly a problem for her, since our family was practically swimming in money. From their education, the children were able to move out of the village and into the city to earn a living, sending what they received back home. In no time, the village was rebuilt as a content and comfortable place to live.

But I couldn't stop there. There were many other people who needed my help. After finishing school and passing the HSC (with the highest mark in the grade, I might add), I not only took to university and received a masters degree in science and physics, but donated my extra time and money to as many charities and organizations as possible.

As predicted, Vegeta showed no interest or enthusiasm to my work, continuing his senseless training so that he may achieve his selfish goal of becoming the world's best fighter. However, this hardly mattered to me. That single glimpse of his other side told me that he was, in fact, a proud father.

Trunks managed to uphold his reputation for keeping both his parents happy. He spent what remained of his teenage years studying and sneaking in time to train with Vegeta and baby-sit Pan. He passed the HSC with flying colours and joined ranks with Bulma and our grandfather at Capsule corp. Though frankly, I don't this Capsule corp. is really where he wants to be. But Trunks is the most unselfish person I know, and would carry out the job to the end of his days if it makes others happy, whether he likes it or not.

Goten and Marron stayed as strong a couple as ever throughout high school and into the future. Neither choose to go to university, and both took on the jobs of their dreams, eventually saving up enough money to by an apartment together in Capsule city and were regular visitors to our household.

Mez and Lucas never really were a couple. They toyed with the idea at school functions, but didn't ever consider it. Mez passed through high school with an average mark, enough to earn her a place at university. She graduated and took a job in law, alongside taking classes in several different types of martial arts. She never married, but the two of us remained best friends all our lives.

Lucas passed the HSC with a considerably high mark. He became a doctor, and married young to a woman who actually found his thick glasses attractive.

Because Anna was no longer allowed to befriend Eliza, she latched onto another group of friends. After her drug escapade, none wanted to befriend Eliza again, and she spent the last two years of high school in a sullen and foul mood, choosing to take her rage out on Uub and I and only infuriating herself even more when the two of us completely ignored her. After high school, she seemed to disappear, and no one had seen her since.

It was Uub who went through the greatest change in the last two years of high school. He would always be shy and meek, but at least he had enough courage to think for himself and stand up for what he believed in. He even worked up enough courage to retort to Eliza when she taunted him after school one day. Eventually, he moved into Capsule corp. with me, but wasn't allowed to share my room under Vegeta's orders. Not too long after this, he proposed and, naturally, I accepted immediately.

Ten years after the end of high school, Bulma decided she wanted to throw another party. To my disgust, I was granted the task of going food shopping and muttered sourly to myself about it as I dragged my food laden trolley to the cash register in order to pay for my items.

I hardly paid attention as I placed the items in front of the check-out girl, my mind wondering to my not-too-far-off wedding day. It was only when I reached into my purse to retrieve my credit card that I met eyes with the girl behind the cash register and recognized a face I had once known so well. It was not a girl who stood behind the counter, but a women about my age, with ringlets of brilliant red hair and lifeless green eyes scarred with a work-worn sense of self pity.

"Eliza!" I cried in disbelief.

"Bra?" She asked uncertainly, scanning the items through and placing them into a plastic bag subconsciously. "My God! I never expected....I mean....err....wow! Look at you! Y-you're beautiful!"

Taken aback by her words, I instantly searched for something to say. Indeed, I had grown more and more like my mother with each passing day (at least in outward appearance) but never really liked to think or even consider my own beauty, let alone have my once-enemy discuss it with me.

"Well, this is unexpected." I mumbled. "So....what have you been doing?"

"Not much." Eliza beamed. "Actually, this has been my job for the past ten years. What about you?"

"Oh," I mumbled, the corners of my lips upturning in a smile. Perhaps it would be kinder, I decided, to not inform her that I had completed a masters coarse in science and physics when her greatest achievement had been getting a job at a grocery store. "I'm engaged to marry Uub in a while."

"No way!" She exclaimed. "You've stayed together all this time!"

I nodded handing over my credit card and collecting the filled shopping bags.

"So what's all this stuff for? Your reception?" She asked cruelly, causing me to sigh heavily. And I had thought she had grown more mature with time. Obviously she was still a teenager.

"No. My mum is having a party." I replied coolly as an idea sprung into my head. "Hey, why don't you come along? Mez is coming too and no doubt she'd de delighted to catch up with you."

At least Eliza was intelligent enough to realize that my voice was dripping with sarcasm, because she refused politely, handed over the credit card and said what she hoped would count for a friendly goodbye. I returned to my car, still chuckling to myself.

(o)

"Goten and I are getting married!" Marron announced proudly once everyone was gathered together in Capsule corp. backyard for the party. "He proposed this morning!"

"Oh my goodness, my baby boy is getting married!" Chi-Chi cried, jumping out of her seat and pulling both of them into a rib-crushing hug. "Another wedding I get to plan! Oh, I can hardly wait!"  
  
"Err....thanks Mum.....I think." Goten said, rubbing the back of his head with his hand and blushing rose pink.

"Congratulations guys!" Trunks beamed and slapped Goten friendly on the back.  
  
"Yeah!" I said, giving the other woman a friendly hug and trying to sound interested. "We can have a double wedding! Yay!"

After the excitement of Goten and Marron's engagement had dyed down, Bulma served the food and I demonstrated the full extent of my Sayian appetite, savouring the look of pure disgust on Marron's face as she chewed gracefully on her piece of steak. Vegeta sat to my left, gnawing through his fourth serving savagely before helping himself to fifths, while Uub, Mez and Lucas looked on in shock.

Because I was so preoccupied with eating, I hardly payed attention to what the others were saying. Marron was talking with her soon to be niece Pan, who had just turned twelve years old and was preparing for her first year of high school. At one point, someone must have said something funny because everyone burst out laughing. In order to fit in, I laughed too, hopefully not to a comment that goes against all my morals. I did manage to catch a snapshot of the conversation between Pan and my dear brother, however.

"You have nothing to worry about, Panny." Trunks beamed and gave the little girl a hug. "You're a fantastic person and I know you'll have fun at high school."

Pan blushed and hid her face in mouthfuls of food. I looked from her to Trunks and then smiled. Who knows? Maybe in another ten years there might be another wedding? That was, if Trunks was prepared to wait that long.

As the party wore on and everyone finished eating, people branched off to do their own thing. 18, Bulma and Chi-Chi sat together in the shade and discussed the upcoming weddings of their children while Videl sat close by not taking too much interest. Vegeta, Goku, Gohan and Krillin managed to slip away to Vegeta's gravity room for some training. Goten and Marron wondered off to engage in their own private conversation as did Mez and Lucas and Trunks played in the grass with Pan.

"I guess I'll have to spend the rest of the party with you." I scowled playfully. "That or join the other women engaging in senseless talk."

"Spending time with you?" Uub pulled a face as I started off walking idly around the pool. "Urgh, I can think of ten things I'd rather be doing right now."

"Like....?" I questioned, quirking an eyebrow in question.

"Well," He grinned. "I'd rather to this."

He pulled me close to him, locking me in a passionate kiss. I smiled against his lips at the realization that I had not yet completely left my teenage years. He still managed bring out the reaction inside me that had been present back when I was fifteen.

"Yuk, that's disgusting!" Pan jeered, dusting her baggy jeans and oversized red shirt.

"Is she always this tomboyish?" Uub asked.

"Yes." I said through a laugh. "But Trunks wouldn't like her if she wasn't."

"You mean...." Uub mumbled, fixing his eyes on my elder brother and the young raven haired tomboy. "Trunks and Pan? No way!"

"Cute couple, don't you think?" I commented, ignoring the playful teenage tone entwined with my voice.

"Kind of." He shrugged.

"Bra!" Chi-Chi called, gesturing me over to her. "Get over here! We need to discuss what colour you want your wedding dress to be! White or cream?"

"Oh the variety!" I exclaimed sarcastically, causing Uub to laugh. "I guess we should get back to civilization. We'll have time to be alone later."

"If you want me to." He shrugged again.

Smiling, I took my fiancé by the hand and led him back to the party.

THE END

Thank you for reading and thank you for all the super reviews! Remember to read the sequel story, Summer Rain, which is about Pan and Trunks.


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